Trend Technological innovation pushes electricity demand up and down at the same time

Summary

Semiconductor and other advanced-industry investment, AI data centre expansion and electrification of transport, buildings and industry are structurally lifting Korean power demand. Yet the same wave of innovation also cuts the electricity needed per unit of service through better chips, leaner software, lighter AI models and more efficient cooling. Some of these savings are induced directly by policy, while others accumulate spontaneously as firms compete and chase lower costs. The author argues that future demand cannot be read as a simple chain from technology diffusion to higher consumption. Instead it should be understood as the net outcome of growth drivers and efficiency gains operating simultaneously, which is the problem the study sets out to address.