South Korea to Develop 8 AI Chips and 2 Semiconductor IPs by 2030
The South Korean government plans to develop eight domestic artificial intelligence (AI) chips and two semiconductor intellectual property (IP) assets by 2030 for applications including autonomous vehicles, smart home appliances and humanoid robots. The initiative aims to secure on-device AI semicon
South Korea intends to manufacture eight AI chips and two semiconductor intellectual property (IP) assets by 2030, targeting applications such as autonomous vehicles, home appliances, and humanoid robots. Samsung Electronics has committed to providing foundry support, including 2-nanometer (nm) advanced process access, to assist domestic companies in producing AI chip prototypes on time.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held an AI Semiconductor M.AX Alliance General Assembly on November 12 in Seoul, convening over 150 industry, academic, and research representatives. The event concluded a two-year roadmap for the K-On-Device AI Semiconductor Technology Development Project, a 600.53 million USD initiative initiated in June.
This project aims to develop and validate eight specialized AI chips and two core semiconductor IP assets by 2030. The chips will encompass a vehicle AI chip, three IP chips for smart home appliances, and one each for collaborative, humanoid, agricultural, and unmanned drones. Two IP assets will focus on advanced manufacturing processes and extreme environment chips.
The government is also hastening the development of one AI chip for smart home appliances, advancing its production timeline by over a year. Samsung Electronics' foundry division will offer 21 prototype-production allocations in 2027 to support domestic fabless companies, covering process nodes from 2nm to 28nm. Multi-project wafer (MPW) and single-run production methods will be employed to mitigate prototype manufacturing bottlenecks.
Samsung will coordinate with existing production schedules to prioritize prototype production requests. The initiative will also foster cooperation among domestic and international semiconductor IP providers to lower entry barriers and share technical requirements, enabling practical validation cases. A public-private strategic committee, chaired by the vice minister of trade, industry and energy and Kyung Hee University president Kim Jin-sang, will oversee the roadmap's implementation.
The committee will review annual development plans each year and coordinate technical challenges and interests among participants.
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