"The Information Minister outlines his plan to sustain the country�s tech lead -- As its domestic IT markets grow increasingly saturated, and competition from neighboring countries stiffens, South Korea stands at a dangerous juncture: find a way to sustain its lead, or watch the work of two decades fall by the wayside. That�s why Daeje Chin, the South Korean Minister of Information and Communication, spent the week schlepping around the San Francisco Bay Area. He touted South Korea�s �ubiquitous information society� and met with Silicon Valley companies. More than anything, he looked for foreign capital that could jump-start his country�s flat-lining industries. South Korea has one of the most advanced IT industries in the world, boasts top cell phone adoption rates, and leads the globe with 75 percent broadband penetration."
The global semiconductor industry is experiencing a historic acceleration driven by surging investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and computing power. According to the latest IDC worldwide market study, 2025 marks a defining year in which AI's pervasive impact reconfigures industry economics and propels record growth across the compute segment of the semiconductor market. Semiconductor Market Development IDC’s latest data reveals an insightful projection: The compute segment of the semiconductor market is on track to grow 36 percent in 2025, reaching $349 billion. This segment, which encompasses logic chips powering CPUs, GPUs, and AI accelerators, will sustain a robust 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030. These numbers underscore not only current momentum but a structural shift driven by large-scale adoption of AI workloads spanning cloud, edge, and on-premises deployment models. The scale of investment is unprecedented. As organizations ...