South Korea: technology profile

AI

South Korea's government aims to become a top-three global AI power. A National AI Strategy Committee chaired by President Lee Jae Myung launched on September 8, 2025. Its first steering meeting was on September 11. It discussed a Korea AI Action Plan and a 2026 AI budget of KRW 10.1 trillion across ministries, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) said. A Korea.net report on January 5, 2026 put that budget at KRW 10 trillion, more than triple the previous year's. It cited a goal of drawing up to KRW 30 trillion in public and private investment, a target rather than money spent.

The National Assembly passed the AI Basic Act in December 2024. It has been in force since January 22, 2026. MSIT says it sets obligations on transparency, safety and high-impact AI. The ministry's draft enforcement decree, published for comment in November 2025, proposed applying safety requirements to systems trained with at least 10^26 floating-point operations of cumulative compute. MSIT promised a grace period of at least one year before administrative fines.

Nvidia announced on October 30, 2025 that government and corporate projects in Korea would add more than 260,000 of its GPUs, including up to 50,000 under MSIT's sovereign AI plans. GPUs are graphics processing units, used to train AI models. Ground was broken on August 3, 2026 for a National AI Computing Center in Haenam. The Seoul Economic Daily reported it as a 2.4 trillion won project planned to hold 15,000 GPUs by 2028.

Chips and hardware

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix make high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which supply data to AI accelerators. Reuters reported on February 12, 2026 that Samsung had started shipping its HBM4 chips as it tried to narrow the gap with SK hynix. Reuters called SK hynix the dominant player. SK hynix reported preliminary second-quarter 2026 revenue of 79.3187 trillion won and operating profit of 60.5426 trillion won, which it called a quarterly record. It said it began mass shipments of HBM4 in that quarter.

The National Assembly passed a special semiconductor bill on January 29, 2026. It provides a legal basis for designating chip clusters and offering financial assistance. It would ease rules for power, water and road infrastructure. It omits an exemption from the 52-hour workweek that industry had sought. Reuters reported the government's 2027 budget proposal on September 1, 2026. It allocates 21.3 trillion won to water systems, power grids and logistics networks to support chipmaking, subject to parliamentary approval.

Robots and autonomy

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said on March 5, 2026 that Korea aims to become a top-three player in humanoid robots through its AI Robot M.AX Alliance. Its members are companies and research institutes. Hyundai Motor Group said in January 2026 that it plans to introduce Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid at its U.S. plant in Georgia from 2028. It said it plans to build capacity for 30,000 robots a year by 2028. Both are stated goals, not delivered output.

Space

The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), established in 2024, oversees the Nuri rocket program. Nuri's fourth flight on November 27, 2025 deployed 13 satellites. Hanwha Aerospace led a launch for the first time. KASA is seeking a 1.65 trillion won budget for 2027, up 47.2 percent, and Korea targets an uncrewed lunar landing by 2030, Yonhap reported.

Energy technology

The 11th Basic Plan for electricity calls for two new large reactors totaling 2.8 GWe and 700 MW of small modular reactor (SMR) capacity by 2038. Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan confirmed on January 26, 2026 that the large reactors would proceed. World Nuclear News reported in June 2026 that Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power had selected Yeongdeok as the candidate site for the large units and Gijang for an SMR. It said the National Assembly had passed a special SMR support act in February.

What to watch

• Nuri's fifth launch, scheduled for October 7, 2026 with 15 satellites. Yonhap reported on October 6 that the rocket was on its launchpad.
• A proposed 4.7 trillion won government equity investment in a homegrown frontier AI model, reported by the Korea Herald on October 5, 2026 and subject to National Assembly approval.
• AI Basic Act enforcement once the grace period on fines ends.
• SK hynix's stated plan to ramp up HBM4 production in the second half of 2026.
• The 12th Basic Plan for electricity, covering 2026 to 2040, described as forthcoming in January 2026.