Korea's energy policy is at a crossroads as the government's ambition to become a global powerhouse in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced manufacturing collides with a less glamorous reality: finding enough electricity to power it all. The Lee Jae Myung administration's "mega project" initiative, including a new semiconductor cluster for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix Inc. in the southwestern city of Gwangju, AI data centers and other energy-intensive facilities, is expected to trigger an unprecedented surge in electricity demand, forcing policymakers to rethink the country's long-term energy mix. The challenge has reignited support for nuclear power just a few years after Seoul sought to phase it out following heightened safety concerns stemming from Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, while exposing the limitations of relying on intermittent renewable energy. Nuclear energy has returned to the spotlight as a reliable, carbon-free source of baseload electricity capable of meeting surging demand from chip fabs and AI data centers, which require an uninte
Lee pledges full support to keep megaprojects on corporate timetables