Kim Yong-beom: In the AI Era, 'Production Capacity Equals National Power'

Kim Yong-beom, head of the Presidential Policy Office, stated on July 12, "In the competition for production capacity in the AI (artificial intelligence) era, the most critical resource that the state must provide is time."

In a post on his Facebook page the night before, Kim emphasized, "The role of the state is to timely eliminate bottlenecks that companies cannot resolve on their own, enabling them to continue long-term strategic investments."

He noted, "The AI revolution is changing the standards of national competition," adding that in the semiconductor industry during the AI era, companies and nations that secure production capacity first will dominate the market and supply chains.

Kim stressed, "Production capacity is the new national power." He explained that a three-year delay in securing production capacity means a three-year delay in factory completion, which does not merely stop there. "Recovering customers and supply chains once lost incurs significantly higher costs and time," he said.

He further pointed out that while companies can build fabs and invest in production facilities, they cannot resolve issues related to power grids, water supply, transmission networks, national industrial complexes, transportation networks, and complex permitting processes on their own. "These infrastructures and systems are the production bases that only the state can establish and coordinate," he emphasized.

Additionally, he remarked, "Time cannot be created simply by declaring regulatory relaxation or institutional improvements; it is only created when the real bottlenecks of power, water supply, transmission networks, and permitting are actually removed."