The AI boom triggered by the emergence of Chat-GPT has led to an increase in demand for AI semiconductors across the board, not just in generative AI but also in autonomous driving, computer vision, and mobile. Accordingly, AI semiconductors were also mentioned as a major topic in the 2024 ICT industry outlook.

The 2024 ICT Industry Outlook Conference was held on the 2nd at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul. This event, held under the theme of ‘The Future Created by Digital Innovation, Into Everyday Life,’ was designed to examine domestic and international ICT prospects and seek response measures.

Kwon Soon-yong, CEO of Heisenberg, who runs the YouTube channel SOD with 600,000 subscribers, predicted that AI semiconductors will become the future hegemony in his presentation titled “The Future of Semiconductors in Korea: A Leap Forward for Disruptive Innovation.”
CEO Kwon said that the public is still questioning the services provided by generative AI and super-large language models that are emerging centered around Chat GPT.

Currently, the world's semiconductor company with the largest market capitalization is Nvidia. Until 2-3 years ago, Nvidia's weight class was not that big. However, with the emergence of Chat-GPT, "Nvidia has reigned as the current semiconductor emperor," said CEO Kwon, emphasizing that "10,000 A100s are needed for one Chat-GPT, and one A100 is priced at 13 million won."

It is projected that expensive semiconductors required for AI operations will account for 10% of the entire semiconductor market in just one to two years.

“Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are competing head-to-head over HBM,” said CEO Kwon, adding, “If HBM is installed in an AI GPU, its performance will vastly increase compared to DRAM.” High-bandwidth HBM is expensive but it is bound to be used in AI semiconductors, so the market share of HBM is expected to be a battleground between the two companies in the future.

According to TrendForce and Gartner data, Samsung Electronics will take first place in the DRAM market with a 42% share in 2022, followed by SK Hynix with 28% and Micron with 25%.

On the other hand, SK Hynix has an advantage in the HBM market, taking up half of the market. SK Hynix sees HBM as a game changer and is working hard to develop and release next-generation HBM products. Currently, Samsung has a 40% market share, and Micron has a 10% market share.

In addition, it is necessary to create an AI semiconductor ecosystem domestically. Rebellion, Furiosa AI, Padu, and Sapion are developing solutions targeting AI semiconductors and laying the foundation in Korea, a wasteland for system semiconductors.

In this regard, CEO Kwon predicted, “AI semiconductors are expected to be very important for Korea’s semiconductor industry, and development will be centered around fabless startups.” This means that the existing semiconductor manufacturing base and capital power of Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and others in the system semiconductor sector can cover these system semiconductor startups.

Amidst mixed views between the public and industry on whether the AI semiconductor trend driven by the artificial intelligence boom will be temporary or a long-term growth market, attention is being paid to the direction in which the outlook for 2024 will flow.