No Signs of Weakening Chip Demand, Experts Tell Finance Ministry

A recent roundtable convened by South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance brought together semiconductor experts who reported sustained growth expectations for the chip industry. Their assessment indicated no clear signs of a pullback in AI investment or overall chip demand. This outlook is grounded in observed large-scale investments by major global companies and their future strategic plans for the sector.

The experts also projected a stable demand base for the near term, attributing this stability partly to the expansion of long-term supply contracts by South Korean chipmakers. Such contracts typically secure future order volumes, offering a degree of predictability against immediate market fluctuations and contributing to a more consistent revenue stream for manufacturers.

While the financial markets have shown some volatility, partly due to policy uncertainty surrounding AI data centers after the U.S. midterm elections, the experts' view suggests a fundamental resilience in the underlying demand for chips. Assistant Minister Kang Ki-ryong acknowledged that policy uncertainty is likely to persist, potentially affecting both financial markets and the real economy domestically and abroad.