[Bon-Young Koo Column] A Misstep in the 'Energy Mix' Could Derail the AI Revolution

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly permeating our daily lives. Earlier this month in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Show 2026 (CES 2026) offered a glimpse of striking examples. Hyundai Motor Group, for instance, unveiled its Atlas humanoid robot, designed to sort and assemble auto parts. Despite the broader trend of low growth, AI-focused semiconductors drove strong export performance last year and helped fuel a bull run in the domestic stock market.
The media industry, where I have spent my career, is also squarely within AI’s sphere of influence. The rise of AI-driven zero-click search is one telling example. When users search for information, AI now provides answers directly, so they no longer need to click through, which is convenient for them. But for news outlets, this means fewer visits to their websites, and thus fewer opportunities to show content and ads. Revenues inevitably decline. Having already been hit when the Internet revolution reduced print newspaper subscriptions, the press now faces another crisis in the AI era as clicks dwindle.
The world has clearly entered a civilizational turning point often called the AI revolution. Countries are launching large-scale investments and competing for AI hegemony. In the second half of last year, the Lee Jae-myung administration also announced an ambitious goal of making Korea the world’s third-largest AI powerhouse, after the United States and China. It especially pledged to leverage Korea’s strength in manufacturing to become number one globally in the field of Physical AI by 2030.
Yet the rhetoric sounds grand while the government’s will to act appears weak. Koh Dong-jin, a lawmaker from the People Power Party and former Samsung Electronics chief with deep expertise in AI technology, recently assessed Korea’s standing amid the global AI boom this way: “If the United States scores 95, China is around 92–93, and we are at about 60.” Despite being a latecomer, the government has allocated only a little over 10 trillion won for this year’s AI budget. That is less than last year’s 13 trillion won set aside for the People’s Livelihood Coupon and other Lee Jae-myung-branded populist programs.
Is there any sophisticated execution plan to catch up with the United States and China? Masayoshi Son, chairman of SoftBank Group, met the president last year and advised, “In the AI era, securing energy is extremely important.” His warning that power shortages are the Achilles’ heel of Korea’s artificial intelligence industry was not an exaggeration. Large-scale data centers, ultra-high-performance semiconductor chips, and AI models that require real-time computation are all voracious consumers of electricity.
Son also drew attention by describing Korea and Japan as countries that are “geographically and structurally disadvantaged in securing energy.” Unlike European nations, the two cannot trade electricity easily across borders. As more variable facilities such as Solar power and Wind power are added—facilities whose output fluctuates with day and night and with the weather—the cost of maintaining grid stability amid supply–demand imbalances rises. Moreover, the Korean Peninsula is narrow from east to west, so the sun rises and sets at roughly the same time across the country. Unlike the vast territories of the United States and China, Korea cannot benefit from time-zone diversification in solar power generation.
This does not mean we should abandon the promotion of renewable energy. The reality is that Korea cannot safeguard its energy security by betting everything on a single power source. A balanced energy mix that combines Solar power, Wind power, nuclear power plant (NPP) generation, and natural gas power generation is unavoidable. It is like a football team without a standout superstar: rather than relying on one-on-one dribbling, it must focus on team play. In the same vein, the latest report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) recommends that the Korean government diversify its power portfolio by combining NPPs, renewables, hydrogen, and Energy Storage System (ESS) facilities.
China, by contrast, enjoys long stretches of shallow coastal waters well suited for offshore wind power. Its sun-drenched northwestern deserts are ideal for Solar power and onshore Wind power. Yet even as it expands solar and wind, China is also densely building NPPs along its southeastern coast facing Korea’s West Sea. On top of that, the share of coal-fired power generation—often vilified as the main culprit of carbon emissions—stands at about 55 percent, far higher than in Korea. Before Korea boasts about catching up with China’s AI capabilities, it must first draw up a rational energy mix.
Of course, securing energy is a necessary condition for a successful AI revolution, but not a sufficient one. The immediate priority is to roll back regulations that hinder investment in AI technology. The United States and China do not apply working hours regulation to top-tier research personnel. Yet Korea’s ruling camp, steeped in populism, hesitates to remove such shackles.
Some within the ruling bloc even argue that semiconductor industrial complexes should be relocated to areas with abundant renewable power generation. One ruling-party lawmaker went so far as to claim that “the way to end the Yoon Suk Yeol rebellion is to move Samsung Electronics’ Yongin Semiconductor Cluster to Saemangeum in North Jeolla Province (Jeonbuk),” an argument that bordered on absurdity and was met with public scorn. Solar power and Wind power cannot provide the kind of “constant, stable electricity” that semiconductor fabs require. This is why some skeptics now say semiconductor complexes would be better off in places like Kori or Uljin, where NPPs provide stable baseload power.
In the end, the root cause of Korea’s AI revolution losing its way is clear. It is the dominance of political logic tainted by populism and partisan self-interest, rather than science. The political establishment must wake up and first dispel the ominous shadow hanging over the future of the AI revolution.
kby777@fnnews.com Reporter