AI semiconductor technology lays groundwork for next industries, Cheong Wa Dae policy chief says

Cheong Wa Dae Policy Chief Kim Yong-beom said Wednesday that South Korea must build a structure in which capital and technology gained from current key industries — including semiconductors and AI — are reinvested into next-generation industries.

Kim made the remarks in a Facebook post titled "3 Mega and 7 SEED," saying the country must "connect industries that have already secured competitiveness with technologies that are beginning to show potential." He emphasized combining mega projects centered on semiconductors, physical AI and data centers with seven advanced technologies including small modular reactors.

The seven SEED categories are small modular reactors, nuclear fusion, renewable energy, quantum technology, space and aviation, advanced biotech, and advanced materials and components supply chains.

It was the first time in 17 days that Kim had shared policy reflections on Facebook.

"The achievements of Korean companies including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the global market are remarkable. Semiconductors are one of the most important industrial assets South Korea has painstakingly built up," Kim said, adding: "Can industries that represent Korea in the global market keep emerging, one after another, following semiconductors?"

"A seed is not a large tree from the outset. What matters is looking ahead to which of these small seeds will grow large enough to sustain South Korea in 10 or 20 years, and preparing the soil for them to take root before others do," Kim said. "The 7 SEED is not simply a list of promising future technologies."

He said the three mega projects and the 7 SEED "cannot be seen as separate policies" and must be viewed as "a single industrial structure that nurtures each other," adding that "the technology accumulated in AI semiconductors becomes the foundation for growing other seeds."

Kim went on to say that "what is needed now is to strengthen industries that have already become great trees, while at the same time planting new seeds," and that "even when fruit is not immediately visible, we must consistently water seeds that hold potential."