Ha Jung-woo, former Cheong Wa Dae AI Future Planning Senior Secretary, called Friday for the Gwangju-South Jeolla region to be developed into a strategic hub for AI semiconductors.
Visiting Gwangju on Friday, Ha proposed combining the city's AI and mobility capabilities with South Jeolla Province's energy and industrial AI transformation strengths.
Ha delivered a special lecture at Oryong Hall of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, hosted by the AI Convergence Industry Promotion Agency.
"Memory chips, data and power will determine competitiveness in the AI era," Ha said.
Ha said generative AI is rapidly evolving into "agentic AI" — systems that independently understand goals and carry out tasks — and physical AI that acts directly in the real world, making the computing infrastructure that supports these systems increasingly critical.
"As AI models grow larger and more sophisticated, high-performance memory chips, differentiated data and stable power supply will determine the competitiveness of nations and companies," he said, adding that AI semiconductors should be treated as a national strategic asset rather than a cyclical industry.
Ha also said AI data centers are expanding their role from simple server facilities into "AI factories" that produce intelligence, which will further raise the strategic value of related semiconductors including HBM, GPUs and NPUs.
"If South Jeolla Province, with its power supply infrastructure, and Gwangju, which has accumulated AI data center and demonstration infrastructure, combine through semiconductors, the region can build the memory, data and power foundation the AI era demands within a single area," Ha said. He added that building an ecosystem linking semiconductors, AI data centers and physical AI could become a new engine of growth for South Korea.
sij@heraldcorp.com
