South Korea's government discussing major new chip investments with Samsung, SK Hynix (updated)

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SEOUL, June 24 (Reuters) - South Korea's government is in talks with Samsung Electronics 005930.KS and SK Hynix 000660.KS over plans for the next phase of large-scale investments in semiconductor production facilities, an official said on Wednesday, adding an announcement on a new chip cluster would be made soon. 
"Exponential and explosive" growth in demand for chips driven by the AI industry could require the two companies to speed up ongoing construction of new chip facilities by more than 10 years to 2034-2035, presidential policy ​adviser Kim Yong-beom told a discussion panel.
"The question is how we will support the AI revolution. Looking ahead to the next stage after seven or eight years, we are faced with the challenge of finding a massive new site for a second cluster," Kim said. 

 (Reporting by Jack Kim and Hyunjoo Jin 
Editing by Ed Davies)
 ((jack.kim@thomsonreuters.com; +822 6936 1455;))