▲AI PRISM* Customized Economic Briefing
*Editor's Note: 'AI PRISM' (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an "artificial intelligence (AI)-based customized news recommendation and summarization service" developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items by reader type.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Semiconductor Super-Gap Reignited: Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is accelerating group-wide collaboration to apply Samsung SDS's AI-quantum computer hybrid simulation technology to the photolithography process, under a goal of mass-producing angstrom-class (1.4-nanometer) ultra-fine processes—one-millionth the thickness of a human hair—within four years, beyond 2 nanometers. With Nvidia's "Grok third generation for AI inference" touted as the flagship order for its 4-nanometer process and the entire foundry production line already reported to be full, inquiries for 2-nanometer chips continue unabated, showing that demand recovery is gaining full momentum in foundry as well as in memory.
■ Chipflation Prolonged: The "chipflation" phenomenon, combining semiconductors and inflation, is intensifying. The fixed transaction price of PC DRAM in June hit 21 dollars, setting a record high since surveys began in 2016, while NAND flash has risen for 18 consecutive months, surging more than ninefold from a year earlier. TrendForce raised its third-quarter DRAM price increase forecast to 15-20 percent from the previous 8-13 percent, and suggested that NAND SLC (single-level cell) products could soar 60-70 percent.
■ Coexistence of Bid for Export Top Four and Concentration Risk: June exports topped 100 billion dollars, including 44.82 billion dollars in semiconductors, while non-semiconductor exports also reached a record 57.4 billion dollars. Based on WTO tallies, Korea's cumulative exports from January to April this year ranked fifth globally, with the possibility of entering the top four raised if it overtakes the Netherlands in the second half. However, the share of semiconductor exports rose to 43.8 percent as of June, entering the 40-percent range for the first time, while protectionist pressure is intensifying as the EU launches new steel measures from that day.
[Corporate CEO News of Interest]
- Key Summary: Samsung Electronics is pursuing research to apply quantum computing algorithms to OPC (optical proximity correction), a key simulation technology in the photolithography process, aiming to mass-produce 1.4-nanometer (angstrom-class) chips within four years, beyond the cutting-edge foundry process of 2 nanometers. Samsung SDS's advanced research organization will join by launching a proof of concept (POC) starting in the second half of this year on the OPC technology that Samsung Electronics' Semiconductor Research Center has independently developed for over 10 years. In angstrom-class processes, the variables to be calculated increase exponentially from the existing two to three to more than 20, making a "compute bottleneck" inevitable, and the parallel computing characteristics of quantum computers have emerged as an alternative to resolve this. Samsung is continuing a two-track strategy that combines the use of external solutions based on Nvidia GPUs with securing its own algorithms, moving to secure super-gap competitiveness by concentrating capabilities across the entire design, development and manufacturing process.
2. "4-Nanometer Production Line Already Full"... Samsung Sees Tailwind in Foundry After Memory
- Key Summary: With Samsung Electronics' 4-nanometer foundry production line reported to be already full, some 400 people from 21 domestic and overseas partner companies attended "SAFE (Samsung Advanced Foundry Ecosystem) 2026," the annual foundry customer event held at Samsung's Seocho building, to discuss AI semiconductor cooperation plans. Nvidia's LPU (language processing unit) "Grok third generation" for AI inference was highlighted as the flagship product of Samsung foundry's 4-nanometer process, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang himself acknowledged that "we are ramping up production quickly." Market research firm Omdia forecast that the foundry market for 3 nanometers and below will grow at an annual average of 58 percent over the next three years, reaching 101.9 billion dollars (about 159 trillion won). Samsung foundry is building advanced production lines in Pyeongtaek and Taylor in the United States, and the Taylor fab is expected to serve as the core production base for the roughly 22.7 trillion won AI chip contract manufacturing deal signed with Tesla last year.
3. DRAM Price Rises 5% Again in June... "Up to 20% More in Third Quarter"
- Key Summary: The fixed transaction price of general-purpose PC DRAM products (DDR4 8Gb) in June rose 5 percent from the previous month to 21 dollars, reaching a record high since surveys began in 2016, while general-purpose NAND flash products rose 8.7 percent, continuing an upward trend for 18 consecutive months. As solid demand from AI market expansion combines with supply shortages, forecasts are strengthening that the "chipflation (semiconductor + inflation)" phenomenon will be prolonged. Market research firm TrendForce raised its forecast for the quarter-on-quarter increase in third-quarter PC DRAM fixed transaction prices to 15-20 percent from the previous 8-13 percent, and suggested that NAND SLC (single-level cell) products could soar 60-70 percent in the third quarter due to supply-demand imbalance. The fourth-quarter DRAM increase forecast was also raised to 3-8 percent from 0-5 percent, giving weight to the view that strong memory chip prices will persist throughout the year.
[Corporate CEO Reference News]
- Key Summary: Korea's June exports topped 100 billion dollars, including 44.82 billion dollars in semiconductors, while non-semiconductor exports also reached a record 57.4 billion dollars. Based on WTO tallies, cumulative exports from January to April this year ranked fifth globally, and with the gap versus the Netherlands (343.5 billion dollars), which is ahead of Korea, narrowing to about 40 billion dollars, the possibility of entering the export top four in the second half is being raised. However, semiconductors accounted for 43.8 percent of total exports in June, entering the 40-percent range for the first time, and when the computer sector is added, the figure reaches 49.12 percent, raising concerns about reduced resilience due to concentration in specific items. Trends toward strengthening global protectionism—the EU's launch of new steel measures, the possibility of additional U.S. tariffs, and falling oil prices following the end of the war—have emerged as variables for the export front in the second half.
- Key Summary: The selection of factory sites for the southwestern regional semiconductor cluster worth a total of 800 trillion won, involving Samsung Electronics and SK hynix (000660.KS), has begun in earnest. Jeonnam Gwangju Special City will soon form a "Semiconductor Strategic Investment Support Group" task force (TF) to enter final coordination on site selection with the two companies, with the 3.63 million-square-meter (about 1.1 million pyeong) Cheomdan District 3 in the Buk-gu and Gwangsan-gu areas of Gwangju and the 8.2 million-square-meter military airport relocation site in Gwangsan-gu regarded as leading candidate sites. Cheomdan District 3 has the advantage of allowing immediate construction after development is completed in September next year, but industrial land (about 300,000 pyeong) is limited for accommodating four fabs, while the military airport site is more than twice as large and equipped with infrastructure, though uncertainty over the relocation schedule is cited as a variable. Samsung and SK require land of about 200,000 pyeong per fab, and measures to secure additional land for building four fabs combined between the two companies remain a task for the government and local authorities.
6. AWS to Integrate All U.S. Supercomputers... Eyeing Defense and Nuclear Power Too
- Key Summary: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's cloud subsidiary, was selected as the sole cloud provider for the "Genesis Mission," the national AI capability enhancement project of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, taking on the key role of integrating the supercomputer resources of 17 U.S. research institutions and the private sector into a cloud-based AI ecosystem. AWS is supporting research institutions with credits of up to 100 million dollars (about 155.5 billion won), and providing credits of up to 1 billion dollars through October 2030 if intelligence agencies with existing contracts migrate to the latest cloud, as part of the U.S. government's transition of AI and supercomputing infrastructure.
