South Korea announced on Monday plans to develop a new semiconductor production base in the country’s southwestern region, backed by 800 trillion won ($517.9 billion) in corporate investment to create four memory chip fabrication plants.
Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan unveiled the investment plan to transform the Gwangju and Jeolla regions into the nation’s second major semiconductor cluster, alongside the existing hub in the Seoul metropolitan area, during a national investment briefing chaired by President Lee Jae Myung at Cheong Wa Dae.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to build two advanced semiconductor plants each
The semiconductor investment is part of the government’s “three mega projects” initiative, which calls for large-scale investments by chip giants Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., as well as other companies, in semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence and AI data centers.
Lee called for securing “overwhelming” chip-supply capabilities as he unveiled mega projects with hundreds of billions of dollars in semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) investments.
South Korea stands at a “crossroad for a great leap forward in the increasingly competitive” semiconductor and AI markets, the president said. He called for securing “absolute competitiveness in advanced technologies and turning South Korea into an industrial powerhouse in the emerging AI era.”
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will jointly invest 800 trillion won to build two advanced semiconductor fabrication plants each in South Korea’s southwestern region, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan announced.
Local governments in the city of Gwangju and South Jeolla Province are expected to contribute between 5 trillion and 20 trillion won toward the projects, while an additional 81 trillion won will be invested in a semiconductor packaging cluster in the Chungcheong region near Seoul.
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South Korea to invest 550 trillion won in AI data centers by 2029
Beyond semiconductors, Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said South Korea plans to invest 550 trillion won in AI data centers by 2029, with total investment expected to exceed 1,000 trillion won by 2035. The government also aims to decentralize digital infrastructure to spur economic development outside the capital region.
Seoul is also planning to establish a robotics and components cluster in Saemangeum on the country’s west coast, where Hyundai Motor has already invested, as part of efforts to strengthen its competitiveness in humanoid robotics against rivals such as China.
