By Ian Werther in News — 17 Mar 2026

South Korea launches 50 trillion won AI and semiconductor initiative

Seoul announced a major push to build domestic AI and semiconductor capability, pledging 50 trillion won in funding for AI and semiconductor projects over the next five years as part of the National Growth Fund. The plan aims to raise Korea’s AI semiconductor firms to global standards and help the country become a leading AI power.

The announcement was made on the 17th at a joint public-private roundtable at the Press Center in Seoul’s Jung-gu district. Attendees included Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eo-yeom, Deputy Prime Minister and Science and ICT Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, Industrial Bank of Korea Chairman Park Sang-jin, and executives from five AI chip firms, including Rivellion, Furiosa AI, HyperExcel, DeepX, and Mobilint.

Officials said the National Growth Fund will total about 150 trillion won over five years, with 50 trillion won earmarked for AI and semiconductor initiatives. An initial 10 trillion won is planned for this year to cover early infrastructure, ongoing operations, and scale-up efforts, with the remainder allocated in the following years.

Semiconductor ribbons with buckled profiles on polydimethysiloxane surfaces that are functionalized for surface chemical bonding exhibit mechanical stretchability.
Flexible electronic structures with the potential bend, expand and manipulate electronic devices are being developed by researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The flexible structure could find useful applications as sensors and as electronic devices that can be integrated into artificial muscles or biological tissues. The objective to generate a concept along with subsequent technology that would allow for electronic wires and circuits to stretch like rubbers and accordions leading to sensor-embedded covers for aircraft and robots, and prosthetic skin for human. Presently they are developing stretchable electronic stretchable electronic sensors for smart surgical gloves and hemispherical electronic eye images — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The government cited last year’s “AI Semiconductor Industry Leap Strategy” from the Ministry of Science and ICT, which prioritizes rapid development of low-power, low-cost neural processing units (NPUs) in the near term and longer-term competitiveness for domestic AI chips. The K-NVIDIA Growth Project is one of seven megaprojects included in the fund’s first phase.

Participants said that securing the funding on schedule could accelerate the production timeline for next-generation NPU products under development, potentially speeding their entry into global markets.

The illuminated white and purple facade of the office building of Rohm Semiconductor, a Japanese electronic parts manufacturer, in Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Finance Commission Chairman Lee Eo-yeom said the government would promptly advance a second megaproject if one is identified, while Deputy Prime Minister Bae Kyung-hoon stressed that AI policy and financing must work in tandem to power Korea’s AI sector.

For U.S. readers, the move matters because it signals Korea’s intent to develop self-reliant AI hardware—which could influence global supply chains for AI computing. NPUs, as specialized chips for AI tasks, are central to data centers, edge devices, and AI workloads; expanded Korean manufacturing could affect sourcing for international buyers, including U.S. tech firms and Nvidia, and contribute to ongoing discussions about tech supply-chain diversification and national security.

The government did not detail specific funding sources beyond the fund's structure, but officials described the National Growth Fund as a five-year program designed to mobilize public and private resources. The event underscored Korea’s concerted effort to align policy, finance, and industry in advancing its AI hardware ecosystem.

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