South Korea: President Lee Seeks Approval for Record Budget, Doubling Super Intelligence Investment to 21.3 Trillion Won
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung addressed parliament on November 2 to seek approval for next year's budget, vowing bold investment in super intelligence (SI) to boost the country's economic growth potential. Lee said South Korea will invest 21.3 trillion won ($15.97 billion), nearly twice this year's amount, in SI and the three megaprojects of semiconductors, physical SI and SI data centres.
His administration proposed in September increasing government spending by a record 12.8 percent next year to 820.9 trillion won ($615.62 billion), aiming to strengthen South Korea's technological edge as global competition over SI intensifies. The budget includes a 162.3 trillion won Future Response Fund, financed largely by additional tax revenue from the semiconductor boom, to support growth industries, young people, regional development and education while providing a buffer against future revenue shortfalls.
Demand for advanced chips used in SI has heavily boosted South Korea's economy, lifting exports and the earnings of memory chip makers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and Asia's fourth-largest economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter on chip exports and investment. From January to October, exports totalled $930 billion, on track to exceed $1 trillion this year and make South Korea the fourth country in the world to reach the milestone after the United States, China and Germany.
Lee said annual exports of $1 trillion were now within reach, but warned that the benefits were not being shared evenly. He said South Korea must make a great transition from growth for the few, in which opportunities and gains are concentrated among certain regions, classes and a small number of companies, to growth for all. Lee is also pursuing nationwide megaprojects centred on chips, physical SI and data centres, including an 800 trillion won private sector chip buildout led by Samsung and SK Hynix in the country's southwest.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 照片：韩国总统李在明肖像，白宫（美国）发布，Wikimedia Commons，公共领域 / Photo: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, by The White House, Wikimedia Commons, public domain
