South Korea To Spend $1 Trillion On More Memory Chip Production, Humanoid Robots (arstechnica.com) 20
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: South Korea's government and top tech companies are committing $1 trillion to several flagship megaprojects that could bolster global memory chip supply, build new AI data centers and spur commercial deployment of humanoid robots by 2028. [...] "We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country," said South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in a televised speech on June 29, as reported by BBC News and other media outlets. "Semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centers are the triple axis for a great leap forward." [...]
The most costly of the megaprojects involves Samsung and SK Hynix committing $585 billion to building new chip fabrication plants in the southwest provinces of South Korea, along with boosting semiconductor fab construction in the Seoul capital region, according to Reuters. The government's goal is to double South Korea's production of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) within five years. [...] The second flagship megaproject involves a $357 billion investment by the South Korean tech companies SK Group, GS Group, and Naver into building large-scale AI data centers in more outlying provinces, including South Chungcheong Province in the west, Gangwon Province in the east, and the North and South Jeolla Provinces in the southwest corner of South Korea.
The third flagship megaproject revolves around the South Korean government assigning a "national strategic industry" designation to physical AI -- the AI systems that enable robots and self-driving vehicles to interact more autonomously with the real world. The government aims to develop a Korean "general-purpose foundation model" based on a world model to support robots within three years, according to The Chosun Daily. Hyundai Motor Company has also committed $5.8 billion to build a robot manufacturing facility and AI data center in the Saemangeum region of North Jeolla Province in the southwest, The Chosun Daily reported.
The South Korean automaker has already been helping Boston Dynamics -- the US robotics company it acquired in 2021 -- use the South Korean supply chain in scaling up manufacturing to produce 30,000 Atlas humanoid robots each year by 2028. Similarly, the South Korean government announced it would aim to commercialize humanoid robots in 10 major industries by 2028, along with training 10,000 human workers as "AI robotics specialists" over the next five years, Reuters reported.
The most costly of the megaprojects involves Samsung and SK Hynix committing $585 billion to building new chip fabrication plants in the southwest provinces of South Korea, along with boosting semiconductor fab construction in the Seoul capital region, according to Reuters. The government's goal is to double South Korea's production of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) within five years. [...] The second flagship megaproject involves a $357 billion investment by the South Korean tech companies SK Group, GS Group, and Naver into building large-scale AI data centers in more outlying provinces, including South Chungcheong Province in the west, Gangwon Province in the east, and the North and South Jeolla Provinces in the southwest corner of South Korea.
The third flagship megaproject revolves around the South Korean government assigning a "national strategic industry" designation to physical AI -- the AI systems that enable robots and self-driving vehicles to interact more autonomously with the real world. The government aims to develop a Korean "general-purpose foundation model" based on a world model to support robots within three years, according to The Chosun Daily. Hyundai Motor Company has also committed $5.8 billion to build a robot manufacturing facility and AI data center in the Saemangeum region of North Jeolla Province in the southwest, The Chosun Daily reported.
The South Korean automaker has already been helping Boston Dynamics -- the US robotics company it acquired in 2021 -- use the South Korean supply chain in scaling up manufacturing to produce 30,000 Atlas humanoid robots each year by 2028. Similarly, the South Korean government announced it would aim to commercialize humanoid robots in 10 major industries by 2028, along with training 10,000 human workers as "AI robotics specialists" over the next five years, Reuters reported.
Good (Score:2)
I have a better idea (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That's how to run a company!
oh look (Score:3)
Well, at least SOMEONE has decided to find out whether it's a bubble or not the hard way.
Re:oh look (Score:4, Interesting)
If you're going to risk the entire national economy on something, RAM is safe. Whether due to AI, robotics, computer vision or anything else, 128GB is about to become the next 10 year norm. Every phone maker is planning on 32GB budget phones in the next 4 years. Now that China can mass produce RAM and is scaling massively, Korea has to up the bar.
BTW, if Trump doesn't lift restrictions, CXMT will continue to steal Korean RAM tech
""We must secure the core elements of AI faster.." (Score:2)
"We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country," said South Korean President Lee Jae Myung...
With the whole world focused on this "problem," it's gonna be a whole hell of a lot easier to ignore the problems that are actually having an affect on the population at large. Well done, owners. You finally managed to refocus every single world government on your problems exclusively, and given every government the excuse they needed to completely ignore their people. Let's see how that works out for us all long-term.
Re: (Score:2)
The dream is that the world is built for human limbs and the 'easiest' answer to claim the same versatility is to also have human limbs.
Stairs, cluttered terrain, a humble curb can all cause problems for the usually better answer of wheels.
The non-humanoid robots we already make those by the ton, and are, as one would predict, much more useful than human-like anatomy in their context. They however want to cover the underserved facet, banking hard on ML to make the humanoid design more viable while they tra
Humanoid (bipedal) robots are dumb (Score:2)
We would have evolved wheels and rotor blades if there was a practical path in biology for it. Mechanical systems should not be burdened by our biological limitations. Wheel and axle systems are cheap, efficient, and reliable, and offer greater carrying capacity for their weight. But all of you already know this because you're not idiots and not part of the tech grift.
Re: (Score:2)
We would have evolved wheels and rotor blades if there was a practical path in biology for it. Mechanical systems should not be burdened by our biological limitations. Wheel and axle systems are cheap, efficient, and reliable, and offer greater carrying capacity for their weight.
Seems unlikely, because unless you have prepared surfaces, wheels kinda suck. Actually they suck really hard.
Re: (Score:1)
Sure, just go upstairs and let me know how that works out for you.
Famine or Feast? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't you think that quite a few of the chip companies will pop together with the bubble, if a bubble pops?
Not unless a lot of new capacity is added. There are not a lot of fabs being built to increase memory production capacity. Not only will the AI demand not vanish overnight, but there is also going to be a lot of pent-up demand from consumers to satisfy. They will be comparatively pleased to pay only slightly elevated prices.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't this an article about adding a lot of new capacity?
No.
Re: (Score:2)
Or am I insulting you again?
Re: Famine or Feast? (Score:2)
I think the chip companies have a lot of contracts, default clauses, and prepaid NREs. Extraction of wealth from AI investors is what most chip companies practice right now, they are not intending on being left holding the bag (or paying for the warehouses full of components)
New Black Gold (Score:2)
Nice, so in 5-10 years there will be a glut of supply and prices will plummet.
Commitment (Score:2)
I committed to losing 30 lb this year. Guess how that's going?
Until the money is spent, a commitment is a promise written on a piece of toilet paper.