The Seoul government's new strategy to vet machine learning systems is reinforcing the market position of foreign hardware designers. A "National AI Tournament" modeled after a "Squid Game" for non-Chinese open source models creates a procurement environment that advantages Nvidia over domestic memory leader SK Hynix. Although SK Hynix investor relations denied these findings, external analysis confirms the sovereign investment path is creating a winner-loser dynamic for chipmakers.
This shift accompanies a record 821 trillion won ($597B) proposed budget for 2027 to accelerate artificial intelligence infrastructure. Financing for the plan comes from a tax windfall generated by Samsung and SK Hynix, with corporate tax receipts projected to double to 216.7 trillion won on the back of high bandwidth memory demand. The plan allocates 2.6 trillion won to the semiconductor industry and 21.3 trillion won to power and logistics, while a projected drop in the debt to GDP ratio to 48.3% facilitates the spending. President Lee Jae Myung warned Tuesday that a rate hike is unavoidable as the strength of the AI supply boom forces the central bank's hand.