August 27, 2026 -
Korea’s ambition to develop next-generation semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers is running into a basic but formidable constraint: electricity.
A government assessment incorporating demand from its "three megaprojects” estimates that peak power demand could reach 158.4 to 165 gigawatts (GW) by 2040. That is roughly 27 GW higher than the projection made just four months earlier — equivalent to the capacity of about 19 large 1.4-GW nuclear reactors.