Experts have raised concerns that South Korea's three mega-projects, worth ¥1,600 trillion and promoted by the government, could turn the country into a subcontracting base for Big Tech if they focus only on adding factories. Creating demand, data sovereignty and the speed of AI adoption were identified as the keys to success.
Warnings have been issued that South Korea's three government-led mega-projects in semiconductors, AI data centers and physical AI could remain subcontracting hubs for global Big Tech if they focus only on expanding facilities. Government-affiliated institutions and academia stressed the risk of losing control even after investing astronomical sums.
The forum cited front-loading support for electricity and industrial water, integrated permitting and the enactment of a wide-area special economic zone law as measures to accelerate factory construction. It was estimated that sales could increase by approximately ¥50 trillion per plant.
The greatest challenges facing the mega-projects are not only speed but also securing demand and data sovereignty. It was noted that Korea's market share will depend on its current reliance on memory and the expansion of non-memory fields, and that a strategy combining measures to stimulate domestic demand with domestic use of data is needed.
In AI data centers, the rate at which demand is secured through long-term contracts is low, raising concerns that the breakdown of the 18.4 GW planned for 2035 could become hollowed out because of a lack of anchor customers. Proposals included clarifying rights to use data to prevent manufacturing-site data from flowing overseas and establishing a joint demonstration framework to support the incorporation of domestically produced components.