If we think of the entire digital world as a “supercomputer,” what South Korea is doing is actually quite straightforward: installing memory chips and hard drives in computers, phones, and servers around the world.
1. First, the conclusion: South Korea is the global steward of “memory modules”
Chips can be broadly divided into two easy-to-understand categories:
- Computing chips: responsible for “computing” (like CPUs, GPUs — the brain)
- Storage chips: responsible for “remembering” (the chips inside RAM and SSDs)
South Korea’s position lies mainly in the second area — storage.
There are two major giants in Korea: Samsung and SK hynix.
Together, they control about 70% of the global DRAM and NAND flash market.
In NAND flash alone, in Q2 2024, Samsung held about 36.9% market share, and the SK group (SK hynix + Solidigm) held about 22.1% — together nearly 60%.
Roughly 7 out of every 10 memory/flash chips in the world are made by South Koreans. The bosses of the “memory and storage wholesale market” live in Seoul and Icheon.
2. Who exactly is Korea supplying? — Pretty much every electronic device in your hand
You may not have seen what these chips look like, but you’re basically using them every day:
- Smartphones: The “RAM + flash” inside is very likely made by Samsung or SK hynix. In Q2 2024, Samsung remained the world leader in mobile memory chips.
- Computers and gaming consoles: RAM sticks, VRAM on graphics cards, SSD flash chips — many are from Korea.
- AI servers: Training ChatGPT, generating images, and running large models require a kind of high-bandwidth memory called HBM. In 2024, SK hynix alone held over half of that market. They are essentially “feeding” AI.
- Cars, home appliances, routers: They also need memory chips, though with less capacity.
You can remember this simple analogy:
The U.S. does the “thinking,” Taiwan helps build the “brains,” and Korea is responsible for “remembering everything.”
3. Why do people say Korea is “choking the global computer industry”?
3.1 Storage is naturally an “oligopoly market”
Global DRAM (system memory) is mainly dominated by three companies:
- Samsung (Korea)
- SK hynix (Korea)
- Micron (USA)
Together, they account for over 80% of the market. The exact split changes year by year, but the industry remains highly concentrated.
Add in NAND flash, dominated by the same few companies, and you can imagine:
Whenever either of the two Korean firms cuts production, raises prices, or has an accident,
The global prices of RAM and storage will surge or plunge accordingly.
It’s not that they’re “irreplaceable,” but it’s extremely difficult to find alternatives that are cheap, stable, and available at scale all at once.
3.2 In the AI era, Korea is leading in the new “grain” as well
The HBM (high-bandwidth memory) mentioned earlier is the ultra-high-speed RAM paired with AI chips. Think of it as:
- Regular RAM = normal conveyor belt
- HBM = high-speed freight train
In this niche market:
- In 2024, SK hynix held over 50% of the HBM market — the undisputed leader.
- In 2025, they’re already preparing for mass production of the next-gen HBM4, aiming to maintain a 60%+ share in the coming years and are one of Nvidia’s key suppliers.
Put simply:
While the world races for “AI computing power,” Korea holds the key to the “high-speed granary” that feeds AI.
4. How did Korea get here? — Not luck, just decades of hard work
Here’s a rough summary of three key factors:
- Bold investment and capacity expansion
Memory is like grain farming: when times are good, everyone profits; when times are bad, losses can be brutal. For decades, Korean firms have kept investing in new plants and technologies even at the bottom of the market, gradually pushing out competitors. - Treating manufacturing as a matter of national strategy
The Korean government has long treated semiconductors as a pillar industry, offering land, tax breaks, and talent policies. Companies cooperate with the government on long-term plans. - Mastering one specialty and scaling it globally
Korea didn’t try to fight on all fronts but focused intensely on memory, becoming No. 1 in that field — then gradually expanded into AI, automotive chips, and high-end packaging.
So today, Korea’s role resembles that of Japan’s consumer electronics industry in the past: they don’t make everything, but whatever they do make, the world can’t do without.
5. How are Korean chips caught in the middle of big-power rivalry?
Semiconductors today are no longer just business — they’re part of geopolitics.
Korean companies have many factories in Korea, but also large ones in China. For example, SK hynix produces 30–40% of its memory and flash chips in China. Samsung has about one-third of its NAND capacity there too.
The U.S. restricts the export of advanced manufacturing equipment to China. It previously granted some exemptions to Samsung and SK hynix so they could maintain their Chinese factories — but those exemptions are now being tightened.
This creates a very real dilemma:
Korea can’t do without American technology and markets, but also can’t abandon Chinese factories and customers.
Since policies from both sides often conflict, Korea must constantly walk a tightrope.
To the rest of the world, Korea has become a critical yet sensitive node:
No one wants anything bad to happen to it, but everyone wants it on their side.
6. Why should ordinary people care? — It’s not abstract “state affairs”; it affects your wallet
Here are a few scenarios:
If Korean factories are halted temporarily
Maybe due to power outages, earthquakes, pandemics, or geopolitical conflict…
The result:
- RAM and storage prices rise
- New phone or computer launches delayed or more expensive than expected
- Data center costs rise — cloud and AI services might get pricier too
If Korea is forced to cut supply to a certain country
Due to policy, tariffs, or sanctions —
That country’s electronics costs will rise, and ultimately, consumers pay the price.
If Korea maintains leadership in AI memory
The upside: Plenty of HBM available — AI development speeds up
The downside: With only one or two suppliers, pricing power becomes more concentrated — the world becomes more dependent on a few Korean factories.
These changes won’t show up in grocery prices tomorrow, but they’ll likely affect your phone, your PC, or your cloud services over time.
7. One simple analogy to wrap it up
If the digital world on Earth were a city:
- The U.S. builds the office towers, writes the software, and makes the rules
- China builds the factories, makes applications, and brings in users
- Taiwan runs the most advanced “precision workshops” (leading-edge chip foundries)
- South Korea installs the “filing cabinets” and “archives” in every building, giving the city a place to store its memory
Filing cabinets go unnoticed most of the time,
But if one day they break, jam, or run out of space,
The entire city descends into chaos.
That’s the role of Korea’s semiconductor industry in a nutshell:
It’s not the flashiest name on the skyline, but it quietly determines how much the digital world can remember, for how long, and how reliably.
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