Remarks made amid China's push

Chairman Choi emphasized that with Chinese competitors rapidly closing the technology gap, Korean chipmakers must move quickly to scale up production capacity to maintain their lead. He framed the competition not as a one-time contest but as a continuous race in which manufacturing speed and capacity determine the outcome.

Context of the remarks

The comments came during a visit to a semiconductor cluster site operated by SK Group, whose memory unit SK hynix is a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI applications. The chairman's remarks underscore the group's position that capacity expansion is necessary to defend Korea's position in the global memory market as Chinese rivals invest aggressively.

The remarks reflect the broader view within Korea's semiconductor industry that speed — in both technology development and fab construction — is the decisive competitive factor, particularly as demand for AI-related memory continues to grow.

Assessment

The claim that Chairman Choi described semiconductors as a speed race and stressed the need to expand production capacity amid China's catch-up is supported by the remarks attributed to him and the circumstances of the visit. Details of specific investment figures or timelines were not part of the remarks, and the statement remains a strategic message rather than an announcement of concrete capacity targets. On balance, the claim is Mostly True.