Korean President and Samsung Discuss Chip Cluster

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on June 25, 2026, to discuss plans for a new semiconductor cluster in the country's southern region, per the Korea Times and Korea Herald. The meeting follows a similar session between President Lee and SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won on June 19, with both discussions oriented toward a government-coordinated announcement on regional chip investment.

Korea Herald reports Samsung and SK Hynix are reviewing a combined regional semiconductor investment in the range of 300 to 400 trillion won, encompassing front-end memory production lines, back-end advanced packaging facilities, and AI data centers. The investment is intended to target areas including Gwangju and South Jeolla Province in the Honam region, as well as the Chungcheong region - distinct from the Yongin semiconductor cluster currently under construction. According to Korea Herald, both companies are coordinating plans ahead of a joint public-private meeting chaired by President Lee.

The initiative reflects the South Korean government's push for regionally balanced industrial development alongside semiconductor sovereignty goals. Large-scale AI-linked chip manufacturing outside the greater Seoul area would expand domestic capacity for advanced packaging and memory production, both of which are critical inputs for AI data center buildouts domestically and abroad. The talks are at the planning stage; a formal investment commitment has not yet been announced.

A confirmed large-scale expansion of Korean back-end semiconductor and advanced packaging capacity would affect AI hardware supply chains, particularly for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and advanced AI chip packaging that SK Hynix and Samsung supply to NVIDIA, AMD, and hyperscalers.