The government on Tuesday declared a full-scale push to support core infrastructure—including land, electricity and water—and institutional measures in line with large-scale investments by Samsung Electronics and the SK Group in Korea's southwestern region.
The plan calls for cutting the time needed to develop industrial complexes from the usual 10 years to around five years. It would also utilize five existing national industrial hubs, the site of the relocated Gwangju military airport, and a candidate site for the Muan national industrial complex to build a foundation for companies to invest at the right time.
President Lee Jae-myung pledged repeatedly to personally oversee the southwestern region's advanced industry project, saying, "Honam is virtually the only region capable of securing core infrastructure such as water, electricity and land."
At the "Southwestern Region Advanced Industry Development Vision National Briefing" held at the Kimdaejung Convention Center in Gwangju that day, each ministry unveiled support measures to back the companies' large-scale investments. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced a strategy for utilizing large-scale industrial sites and a plan for rapid land supply.
The government plans to use industrial hubs totaling 4.72 million pyeong, including future vehicles (1.02 million pyeong), Bitgreen (1.23 million pyeong), Advanced District 3 (1.02 million pyeong), Naju Energy (380,000 pyeong) and Yeongam-Haenam Solaseado (1.07 million pyeong). In addition, it decided to develop the relocated Gwangju military airport site and the candidate site for the Muan national industrial complex to secure as much industrial land as possible.
The government will also dramatically shorten the time needed to develop industrial complexes to match companies' investment schedules. The plan is to apply a fast-track to procedures—covering permits, compensation, design, site preparation and construction—that usually take more than 10 years, reducing them to around five years. "We will provide land at the right time by pursuing compensation and design simultaneously, for new complexes as well as existing industrial complexes," MOLIT Minister Kim Yoon-deok said.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will provide tailored infrastructure needed to build semiconductor fabs. In addition to swiftly expanding power generation facilities and transmission networks, it will fully launch a talent development program pursued by the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) and global semiconductor design company Arm. Through the mega special zone law the government is pursuing, it will also push to designate at least one mega special zone in the southwestern region to comprehensively resolve various regulations arising in the course of corporate investment.
In line with the government's all-out support, Samsung and the SK Group also reaffirmed their large-scale investments in the southwestern semiconductor cluster. The two companies plan to build semiconductor fabs and ultra-large data centers in the region to create an artificial intelligence (AI) industry ecosystem.
"We will invest 17 trillion won to build a national AI data center in Haenam Solaseado," said Jun Young-hyun, vice chairman and head of Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions (DS) division. The plan is to build a data center with a total capacity of 210 megawatts (MW) near Solaseado, Korea's largest single solar power complex, and supply its electricity from renewable energy. Construction will begin in the second half of this year, with first operation targeted for 2028. "The government should support nuclear power expansion, activation of the power purchase agreement (PPA) system and expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cogeneration," Jun said.
SK, centered on SK Telecom, will invest about 70 trillion won to build a 1-gigawatt (GW) AI data center in the southwestern region. After that, starting in the southwestern region, it plans to invest a total of 1,000 trillion won nationwide to build data centers totaling 15 GW.
President Lee, following the previous day's "Three Mega Projects National Briefing" outlining strategies to foster advanced industries outside the Seoul metropolitan area, again expressed his intention to personally oversee the related projects. "So that not even a single month of delay occurs after only plans are announced, I, as president, will set up a dedicated team at the Blue House and responsibly support the entire process to the end," he said. He added, "Min Hyung-bae, the mayor of the Jeonnam-Gwangju integrated special city, said he would inject up to 20 trillion won if needed, but we will not shift the entire burden onto local governments," stressing, "The central government will also share an appropriate role."
