South Korea’s finance ministry expects to deploy 600 billion–1 trillion won
(about $707m) of new capital into a sovereign-wealth fund targeting AI and other
strategic industries next year, and the final amount could exceed initial
estimates depending on selected targets and their funding needs, the ministry’s
Innovation Growth Office head said on Tuesday. There are currently no plans for
the fund to invest directly in Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix. In July Seoul
said the Korea Investment Corporation would set up a “strategic industry
investment account” with initial capital of at least 20 trillion won (about
RMB94bn), targeting AI, semiconductors, data centers and overseas supply-chain
core firms and due to be formally launched and operated next year. The fund will
also target robotics, energy and battery and grid infrastructure; nuclear, space
and quantum technologies are under consideration.
