"To all the cutting-edge engineers driving Korea's economy, I cheer you on. Fighting."
When President Lee Jae-myung turned toward a monitor set up in the exhibition hall at Samsung Display's Asan plant on Tuesday, employees dressed in white sterile suits appeared on screen. Introducing themselves as "engineers of the IT organic light-emitting diode (OLED) business team," they greeted the president with a "welcome." Lee responded, "I hope you can work happily and safely." Then, following a countdown, he pressed the "START" button, and the monitor showed a scene of glass substrates being loaded. It was the moment declaring the world's first mass production of Gen 8.6 OLED displays.
Ahead of the "Chungcheong Advanced Industry Development Vision National Briefing" that day, Lee examined the products and technologies of Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Samsung SDI one by one at an exhibition set up at the venue. Looking at flexible OLED (bendable organic light-emitting diode) panels displayed throughout the exhibition, Lee repeatedly expressed admiration, saying, "The era we once only imagined has become reality." While experiencing a glasses-free 3D display that allows viewing of three-dimensional images without special glasses, he asked whether it worked on the same principle as videos projected on building exteriors, and heard from Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Jay Y. Lee that "the sensor tracks the eyes, so it is different (from building exterior videos)."
As he left the exhibition, he wrote in the guest book in front of the entrance: "Samsung's innovation, Chungcheong's challenge, irreplaceable Korea, fighting!"
At the briefing that followed, Samsung and SK announced large-scale investment plans exceeding 300 trillion won. Samsung first unveiled a vision to invest 140 trillion won to develop Chungcheong into a center for cutting-edge materials and components. Samsung Display plans to invest 67 trillion won to complete the world's largest state-of-the-art display cluster in Asan. Centered on the Asan campus, the company will expand high-value-added OLED lines, including OLED for smartphones and IT, extended reality (XR), automotive, humanoid, and wearable applications.
Samsung Electronics will also invest about 56 trillion won to develop its Onyang and Cheonan campuses into next-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production hubs. At the Onyang plant, five HBM fab lines will be added to reinvent it as a state-of-the-art semiconductor back-end base, and the Cheonan plant will also pursue expansion and modernization of HBM-related facilities.
Samsung SDI and Samsung Electro-Mechanics will invest 9 trillion won and 8 trillion won in Chungcheong, respectively. Lee Chung, president and CEO of Samsung Display, said, "For investment to be carried out swiftly, active government support is needed," adding, "To secure excellent talent, we request the extension and early connection of the GTX line to Cheonan-Asan Station."
SK Group also unveiled investment plans reaching 170 trillion won. Kwak Noh-jung, president of SK hynix, said, "We plan to invest a total of 100 trillion won in Cheongju," adding, "We will invest 80 trillion won in M17, which will produce NAND, and 20 trillion won in P&T7 and others to strengthen advanced packaging." SK hynix will break ground on M17 next year, targeting operation in the first half of 2029, while P&T7, currently under construction, will be completed by 2027.
At the same time, SK presented a plan to build an artificial intelligence (AI) data center with an investment of 70 trillion won. Kwak said, "SK Group will build a 1GW (gigawatt) AI data center in the Chungcheong region to create an AI industry ecosystem where semiconductor production and AI computing generate synergy."
Lee stressed, "You can become a leader enjoying limitless opportunities, or you can become a follower exposed to the risk of falling," adding, "If companies' strategic investment is combined with the government's firm will, Chungcheong will stand tall not only as the center of Korea's advanced industry but as a global hub of innovation leading the AI era."
At a senior secretaries' meeting he presided over at the presidential office afterward, Lee emphasized, "The 'three mega projects' are not simply support for regional areas but a decision for Korea to leap into a superior industrial power," adding, "It will become the 'third stepping stone' of Korea's growth, following the Park Chung-hee government's fostering of heavy and chemical industries and the Kim Dae-jung government's leap into an IT powerhouse."
