South Korea has announced a staggering $950 billion in new AI initiatives involving Samsung Electronics, SK Group, and major U.S. technology firms, marking the largest-ever semiconductor supply agreements in history.
The announcement came after an AI summit hosted by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in San Francisco, where global tech leaders rushed to secure chip supply as demand for AI computing infrastructure continues to outpace production.
SK Group signed deals worth $750 billion, including SK Hynix's partnership with Nvidia valued at more than $500 billion. Samsung Electronics signed a memorandum of understanding with Broadcom covering up to $200 billion across memory chips, foundry services, and advanced packaging.
Speaking at the summit, President Lee said South Korea would lead the way to a new era of AI in partnership with global technology companies, making available its 'dynamic AI ecosystem' to expand the global market for industrial and personal AI use.
Lee unveiled a 'San Francisco AI Declaration' outlining South Korea's AI ambitions for technological cooperation with the United States. He separately met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
As part of the agreement, SK Telecom plans to build a 2-gigawatt data center powered by Nvidia's Vera Rubin chips and SK Hynix's HBM4 high-bandwidth memory, due online in 2027. Samsung Electronics will work with Broadcom on next-generation AI accelerators based on Samsung's HBM technology and sub-2-nanometer foundry processes.
SK Chairman Chey Tae-won said AI customers were seeking far more memory than previously anticipated, noting that Nvidia's projected memory requirements over the next five years could soon prove to be higher. 'I wouldn't be surprised if, the next time I see [Huang], he'll tell me those figures were too low and say, "I want more,"' Chey said.
The announcement underscores a dramatic reshaping of the global semiconductor industry as the AI boom drives unprecedented demand for advanced memory and computing power, locking U.S. tech giants into deeper partnerships with South Korea's manufacturing leaders.
