▲ AI PRISM* Personalized Economic Briefing
* Editor's note: "AI PRISM" (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based personalized news recommendation and summarization service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six tailored news items by reader type.
[Key Issue Briefing]
■ Expanding the Nvidia Alliance: Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is running both its foundry and memory operations within the ecosystem of Nvidia's next-generation AI computing platform, Vera Rubin. The foundry division has begun mass production of the Grok3 AI inference accelerator, while the memory division is increasing supply of sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM4) for the next-generation Rubin GPU, broadening the scope of cooperation from components to total AI hardware solutions.
■ Accelerating China's Self-Reliance: Goldman Sachs projected that China's supply of advanced-process wafers at 7 nanometers and below will grow by an average of 46% per year from last year through 2035. That far outpaces its forecast for demand growth over the same period, an average of 17% per year, meaning China's domestic gap between advanced chip supply and demand will narrow sharply from 92% last year to 34% in 2035.
■ Capital Injection for KEPCO: Behind the ruling party and government's announcement on the 25th that they would invest in Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Water Resources Corp. lies concern that infrastructure investment such as semiconductor fabs will be difficult to proceed as planned if electricity and water are not supplied on time. KEPCO must invest 72.8 trillion won ($52 billion) in 70 transmission lines by 2038, but its total debt had swelled to 210.7 trillion won as of the end of June.
[News of Interest to Corporate CEOs]
1. Grok3 Enters Mass Production Alongside HBM4 Expansion: Samsung's "Nvidia Moment"
- Summary: Samsung Electronics is expanding its presence within the ecosystem of Nvidia's next-generation AI computing platform, Vera Rubin. Nvidia announced at the "Hot Chips 2026" semiconductor conference that the Grok3 AI inference accelerator, a language processing unit (LPX), has entered mass production, and the chip is being produced on the 4-nanometer process at Samsung Electronics' S5 line at its Pyeongtaek campus. Grok3's production yield has improved roughly two- to threefold recently compared with April, rising above 80%, the benchmark for stable mass production, while the utilization rate of the Pyeongtaek 4-nanometer line has approached 100%. This trend is providing a turning point for the foundry business, which has run losses for a long time. Samsung Electronics is also broadening the scope of its cooperation with Nvidia by supplying HBM4 for the Rubin GPU, "SOCAMM2" low-power DRAM modules for the Vera CPU, and NAND flash-based SSDs.
2. Goldman: China's Advanced Chip Supply Gap to Shrink Sharply Within 10 Years
- Summary: As China concentrates on semiconductor self-reliance, its shortage of advanced chip supply is expected to shrink significantly over the next decade. Goldman Sachs forecast that the supply-demand gap for advanced-process chips in China will narrow from 92% last year to 34% in 2035, with supply reaching 410,000 wafers per month and demand 619,000 wafers per month by 2035. It cited aggressive capacity expansion and yield improvement at SMIC, China's largest foundry, as the driving force behind the supply increase, projecting that yields will rise from 23% in 2026 to 75% in 2035. However, lithography equipment, which remains subject to U.S. export controls, stays the most vulnerable sector, and CXMT is assessed to trail Samsung Electronics and SK hynix (000660.KS) by two to three technology generations.
- Summary: The ruling party and government announced investment in Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Water Resources Corp. on the judgment that delays in power and water supply could become an obstacle to infrastructure investment. According to the 11th Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand, KEPCO must invest 72.8 trillion won in 70 transmission lines spanning 3,855 kilometers by 2038, plus 10.2 trillion won on distribution network improvements. However, its consolidated operating profit in the first half of this year was 4.9127 trillion won, down 16.6% from the same period last year, and its interest costs alone reach 11.5 billion won a day. President Lee Jae-myung stressed that "we must convert the increased finances into a productive fiscal strategy that harvests more fruit in the future," and KEPCO says there has been no case of the government injecting cash into the company since its 1989 listing.
[News for Corporate CEOs' Reference]
4. 15 Million Tons Buried Across Half of Seoul's Area: "White Petroleum" at $20,000 a Ton
- Summary: The lithium resource POSCO Holdings (005490.KS) secured at the Hombre Muerto salt lake in Argentina is estimated at 15 million tons on a lithium carbonate basis. After acquiring the mining rights in 2018, it continued exploration and secured 13.5 million tons, six times the initial estimated reserves of 2.2 million tons, and added 1.5 million tons by purchasing mining rights to an adjacent salt lake. The producible amount, factoring in extractability and yield, is about 3 million tons, enough for roughly 70 million electric vehicles, worth $60 billion (about 82.8 trillion won) at current prices of $20,000 a ton. In addition, POSCO Argentina late last month became the first Korean company to receive final approval under Argentina's large-scale investment incentive program (RIGI), securing more than $900 million in tax benefits over 30 years. In line with this, it plans to move up the construction schedule for its third and fourth plants to build a total lithium production capacity of 100,000 tons.
5. SK Innovation to Absorb Separator Subsidiary SKIET
- Summary: SK Innovation (096770.KS) will absorb its battery separator subsidiary SK IE Technology (361610.KS) (SKIET). The two companies held board meetings on the 25th and each approved the merger, with a merger date of January 1 next year and a merger ratio of 1 to 0.1174540, under which 0.11 SK Innovation common shares will be allocated per SKIET common share. Amid slowing growth in the electric vehicle market, delayed demand recovery in key markets such as North America, and price offensives from Chinese competitors, SKIET's operating profit turned from 50.1 billion won in 2023 to a loss of 290 billion won in 2024, and it posted losses of 246 billion won in 2025 and 136 billion won in the first half of this year. SK Innovation plans to reduce overlapping and financial costs after the merger and combine research and development capabilities to strengthen the competitiveness of new businesses, such as expanding its separator business for energy storage systems (ESS).
- Summary: The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed new economic sanctions targeting even third countries that do business with Iran. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States is launching an operation to block every option available to the Iranian regime, and the U.S. plans to impose sanctions on third countries that trade with Iran in digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. Alongside this, it designated more than 60 individuals, entities, and vessels that supported Iran's nuclear and missile technology, cyber operations, and oil revenue as new sanctions targets. The U.S. government is also considering an additional 7.5% tariff on Chinese products over overproduction, which, added to the 12.5% imposed in July under Section 301 of the Trade Act, would bring the total tariff rate on China to 20%. Trump also declared that he would raise tariffs on automobiles, small and large trucks, auto parts, and steel to 50% for Canada starting January 1, 2027. However, negative assessments of its effectiveness prevail. The Wall Street Journal noted that with Canada's automobile and parts exports to the U.S. worth about $50 billion a year, a 50% tariff would amount to imposing a $25 billion tax on U.S. industry and consumers.
▶ Go to article: SK hynix Union Rejects "Treasury Stock Bonus," Enters Renegotiation
▶ Go to article: IPO Sentiment Cools, Then This: Offering Price Falls Below Band for First Time This Year
