South Korea plans up to $1.3 trillion in tech investments led by Samsung and SK Hynix - Crypto Briefing

South Korea plans to invest up to $1.3 trillion in technology over the next decade, led by semiconductor giants Samsung and SK Hynix. The investment focuses on AI-driven chip demand, targeting new mem... Read original →

South Korea’s $1.3 trillion tech push is a high-stakes bet on the AI hardware supercycle. While Samsung and SK Hynix dominate DRAM and NAND, Samsung’s lag in HBM reveals critical gaps in advanced packaging integration. This initiative will accelerate domestic adoption of EUV, 3nm nodes, and CoWoS-like packaging, pulling equipment and materials suppliers toward Korean ecosystems and eroding Japan’s and the Netherlands’ leverage in key segments. Yet, amid U.S.-China decoupling, over-concentrating capacity domestically heightens exposure to export controls—especially as AI chips face tighter multilateral restrictions. TSMC and Taiwan, China’s supply chain remain irreplaceable short-term, but Seoul is actively engineering a 'Taiwan-decoupled' memory-logic stack for AI. Within 18 months, if HBM4 standards solidify faster than expected, SK Hynix could lock in NVIDIA and hyperscalers, while Samsung’s widening yield and delivery gaps may permanently undermine synergy between its foundry and memory divisions.