South Korea unveiled a $1 trillion investment plan aimed at cementing a lead in physical AI and commercial humanoid robots by 2028. The budget bundles massive chip‑fab expansion, AI data‑center construction and robot manufacturing. President Lee Jae‑Myung framed the effort as a race to secure semiconductors, AI hardware and data infrastructure ahead of rival nations.

Samsung and SK Hynix will pour $585 billion into new DRAM fabs in the southwest and Seoul region, targeting a doubling of domestic memory output within five years. Parallelly, SK Group, GS Group and Naver pledge $357 billion for AI data centers across several provinces, demanding up to 14 GW of power and hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of water, sparking concerns over energy and resource strain.

Hyundai Motor committed $5.8 billion to a Saemangeum robot factory and AI hub, planning to mass‑produce 30,000 Atlas humanoids annually by 2028 for use in automotive plants and ten other sectors. Labor unions have already voted on strike action, fearing job losses as robots enter the workforce. The government also aims to train 10,000 AI‑robotics specialists, tying workforce development to the rollout.