{"id":2208145,"date":"2025-01-29T14:48:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T05:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/?p=2208145"},"modified":"2025-01-30T15:21:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T06:21:21","slug":"deepseek-disruption-and-us-tariffs-could-sideline-south-korea-from-ai-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2025\/01\/deepseek-disruption-and-us-tariffs-could-sideline-south-korea-from-ai-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"DeepSeek disruption and US tariffs could sideline South Korea from AI revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
The rise of China\u2019s DeepSeek, the return of U.S. protectionism and political instability at home are reshaping South Korea\u2019s artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As global supply chains realign around AI, South Korea risks being reduced to a mere supplier of chips for foreign tech giants \u2014 forfeiting its ambition to lead the AI revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n REMAPPING THE SEMICONDUCTOR MARKET<\/b><\/p>\n DeepSeek<\/span><\/a>, a cutting-edge Chinese AI company, has quickly emerged as a formidable competitor in the global AI sector. The company developed a large language model (LLM) that rivals OpenAI\u2019s GPT series at a fraction of the cost.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n DeepSeek researchers behind the company\u2019s LLM, R1, <\/span>claim<\/span><\/a> it cost $6 million to train. For comparison, training ChatGPT-4 <\/span>reportedly<\/span><\/a> cost OpenAI $63 million.<\/span><\/p>\n Although the U.S. continues to lead the global AI sector with companies like OpenAI, Nvidia and Google, DeepSeek\u2019s rise will likely drive unprecedented demand for AI semiconductors, such as high-bandwidth memory chips and graphics processing units.<\/span><\/p>\n This demand will likely boost sales and profits for South Korean companies that have traditionally dominated in chip manufacturing. However, this demand alone doesn\u2019t guarantee South Korea\u2019s long-term relevance in the sector.<\/span><\/p>\n