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Prospective customers will help define and test the chips. Samsung will consider priority scheduling for prototypes, but production runs and a faster appliance chip’s commercial launch remain unconfirmed.
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The roadmap is designed to connect South Korean fabless chip designers with eventual users early: manufacturers will set requirements and provide test conditions, while a public-private committee approves annual plans and works through technical and commercial conflicts. The 2030 portfolio covers eight application-specific AI chips and two semiconductor IP products. Samsung Electronics is only offering priority consideration for 21 proposed 2027 prototype runs, not guaranteed production slots; an accelerated appliance-chip schedule also does not establish a consumer launch date.
Targets include one autonomous-vehicle chip, three smart-appliance chips, and four for collaborative, humanoid and agricultural robots and drones.
The 21 proposed runs span six process sizes, from 2 to 28 nanometers, and include multi-project wafer and single-run fabrication.
Domestic and foreign IP providers plan flexible licensing payments and shared IP packages to reduce designers’ development costs.
South Korea is bringing manufacturers into chip design under a new roadmap for its 800.2 billion won, about $599 million, domestic AI semiconductor initiative. Unveiled November 12, the plan targets eight chips and two semiconductor intellectual property products by 2030, with prospective customers helping specify requirements and test designs before adoption.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources presented the roadmap at an industry alliance meeting in Seoul, according to Asia Today’s report published by UPI. It sets schedules and corporate partnerships for a national research and development program launched in June. The government’s stated goal is to move beyond research and get locally designed chips into commercial products.
The program focuses on on-device AI: chips that let vehicles, appliances and robots perform AI calculations directly, without relying on external servers. Its development targets span several kinds of equipment rather than a single general-purpose chip. By 2030, the government aims to have developed and validated this lineup:
Manufacturers that may eventually use the chips will participate from the initial design stage, rather than simply buy finished semiconductors. They will specify the performance and technical requirements their products need. They will also provide facilities that simulate operating conditions, allowing domestic fabless companies—businesses that design chips rather than manufacture them—to validate designs and establish commercial performance records.
The government has moved the manufacturing schedule for one smart-appliance AI chip forward by more than a year. That acceleration does not establish when consumers will see it in a product. The chip still needs development and performance testing before manufacturers can adopt it, and its commercial launch date has not been finalized.
Samsung Electronics’ foundry division is slated to support prototype manufacturing. In 2027, it plans to give priority consideration to scheduling 21 anticipated production runs. Those runs are not finalized: Samsung will assess demand and fit the proposals around its existing manufacturing schedule. The commitment is therefore to consider priority scheduling, not to guarantee all 21 runs.
The proposed manufacturing demand spans six process sizes. It includes three runs each at 2, 5, 8 and 14 nanometers, four at 4 nanometers and five at 28 nanometers. The plans cover both multi-project wafer production and single-run fabrication.
True cooperation in the semiconductor industry must be demonstrated not by promises of collaboration but by the actual adoption of jointly developed technologies in real products
Lee Min-woo, senior Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources official responsible for industrial growth
The roadmap also anticipates support to reduce development costs. Domestic and foreign semiconductor intellectual property providers intend to offer more flexible licensing payment arrangements. They also plan shared intellectual property packages that multiple companies can use. These measures are planned support for chip designers, alongside access to manufacturing and testing.
A newly established public-private strategic committee will oversee the program. A ministry vice minister and Kyung Hee University President Kim Jin-sang will co-chair it. The committee will review and approve annual development plans, address technical obstacles and coordinate competing interests among participating companies. That gives the initiative an ongoing decision-making body as the roadmap moves into development and prototype scheduling.
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