Korea to Build 2 More Chip Fabs in Honam, Adding to 6-Plus Plan by 2040

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six tailored news items by reader type.

1. Companies Themselves Request More Honam Fabs — "More Nuclear and LNG Needed to Meet Power Demand"

- Key summary: According to the "12th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand — Power Demand Reprojection" released by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment on the 20th, the maximum 2040 power demand from advanced industries and AI data centers is projected at 36.2 to 36.5 gigawatts (GW), up 28.5 GW from the earlier estimate of 7.7 to 8 GW. Power consumption by the two sectors in 2040 is put at 348.5 terawatt-hours (TWh), close to 40% of the ministry's newly presented maximum total 2040 power demand of 885.1 TWh. Even if the government expands renewable generation capacity to 200 GW by 2040, actual supply to the grid would reach only around 45 GW because of solar and wind efficiency. By contrast, total 2040 power demand is projected at 158.4 to 165 GW, far above this year's peak of about 95 GW. With coal plant retirements already scheduled and additional nuclear capacity confirmed in the 11th plan amounting to only 8.75 GW, the view is gaining traction in the industry that LNG combined heat and power generation must fill the gap — since the southwestern and Yongin chip fabs are set to begin operating around 2030 while most new nuclear plants will not come online until the mid-2030s or later.

2. Amid Praise for hynix's Record Shareholder Returns, the KOSPI Soars

- Key summary: On the 20th, the KOSPI closed at 6,852.58, up 381.41 points (5.89%) from the previous session, recovering the 6,800 level and triggering the 24th buy-side sidecar of the year. The day before, SK hynix said it would buy back and retire all of a 40 trillion won ($27.4 billion) block of treasury shares within the next three months and return more than 50% of cumulative free cash flow (FCF) for 2025 through 2027. On the 20th, it bought 650,000 shares at an average price of 1,678,182 won, spending 1.09 trillion won, and SK hynix closed at 1,691,000 won, up 12.73%, while Samsung Electronics closed at 271,000 won, up 9.49%. Domestic and foreign brokerages estimated total returns through 2027 at 150 trillion to 230 trillion won. Foreign investors also net bought 1.71 trillion won on the day, with net purchases over the six sessions since the 11th reaching 6.39 trillion won, signaling a possible return to the Korean market.

3. Google Forges AI Chip Alliance With Marvell — Warrants Worth Up to 17 Trillion Won

- Key summary: Marvell Technology said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the 19th, local time, that it had granted Google warrants to purchase about 59 million shares of its common stock at $206.58 per share. If fully exercised, the amount would reach up to $12.18 billion (about 16.98 trillion won), making Google Marvell's fifth-largest shareholder, with the right to buy the remaining shares — excluding about 1.4 million — granted for every $500 million worth of Marvell products purchased. Since Google has developed its custom TPU chips since 2013 while entrusting detailed design to Broadcom, raising concerns about growing dependence, this partnership broadens the hardware supply base for the TPU ecosystem, including AI accelerators and storage and network controllers. On the New York market that day, Marvell rose 9.8% while Broadcom fell 4.57%, a divergence in fortunes.

4. U.S. National Debt Tops $40 Trillion — High Rates Still Seen Despite Doubled Buybacks

- Key summary: U.S. national debt reached $40.047 trillion as of the 18th, topping $40 trillion for the first time ever. While it took about 8 years and 11 months for the debt to grow from $10 trillion to $20 trillion, it took only about four years each to reach $30 trillion and $40 trillion, and the U.S. Congressional Joint Economic Committee calculated that it grew by an average of $7.91 billion per day over the past year. Interest costs for this fiscal year are $1.17 trillion, the third-largest item in the federal budget and on par with a year of defense spending. The U.S. Treasury decided to double its Treasury buybacks to $4 billion per round from next month through November, but The Wall Street Journal noted that this amount is only 2.4% of the outstanding balance of 10- to 30-year issues, limiting its ability to lower Treasury yields.

5. Personalized Cancer Vaccine Succeeds in World's First Phase 3 Trial

- Key summary: "Intismeran autogene," a personalized cancer vaccine jointly developed by U.S. firms Moderna and Merck (MSD) using mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) technology, demonstrated meaningful therapeutic effects in a Phase 3 trial of 1,137 patients with high-risk melanoma. Patients treated in combination with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda showed statistically significant improvements in both recurrence-free survival and distant metastasis-free survival compared with those on treatment alone, marking the first time an mRNA-based therapy has confirmed efficacy in oncology beyond infectious diseases. Intismeran analyzes a patient's tumor tissue and blood samples and is designed to target up to 34 mutations, with a production time of about six weeks. The two companies are conducting nine follow-up trials across six cancer types, including lung, bladder and kidney cancers, aiming for market approval in 2027. On news of the trial's success, Moderna shares surged 177% from the previous day to close at $174.38, the largest single-day gain among S&P 500 constituents in the past 25 years, while Merck also rose 12.6% to $152.20, setting a new all-time high.

6. U.S. Weighs Cutting Tariffs on Canadian Steel to 25% and Autos to 15%

- Key summary: Bloomberg reported on the 19th, local time, citing sources, that a tentative U.S.-Canada trade agreement includes cutting tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 25% from 50%. Reuters reported that a plan to lower the base tariff rate on Canadian automobiles and trucks to 15% from the current 25% is also under discussion. Since the administration of Donald Trump has imposed 50% product tariffs on Korean steel and aluminum under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act since last year, a final deal is feared to deal a blow to Korea's steel and aluminum industries. A day before the tariff enforcement was set to end, on the 18th, Trump said an agreement had been reached on the premise of finalizing documents with Canada and delayed the levy by three days, while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the two countries were moving toward a deal.