President Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday that the government will "fuse advanced industries such as physical artificial intelligence (AI) and aerospace onto the solid manufacturing base of Yeongnam, where the flame of industrialization first ignited."
Speaking at the "National Briefing on the Vision for Advanced Industry Development in the Yeongnam Region" held in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, Lee expressed gratitude to major companies undertaking large-scale investments and said the region "will move beyond being Korea's top manufacturer toward becoming the world's No. 1 manufacturer."
Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, Hanwha and LG announced investment plans totaling 312 trillion won in the Yeongnam region that day. Samsung will invest approximately 60 trillion won to build AI manufacturing innovation hubs, including humanoid robots, and to expand production lines for batteries and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC).
SK Group will invest 140 trillion won to build AI data centers with a capacity of more than 2GW, while Hyundai Motor will spend 42 trillion won to develop AI-based autonomous vehicles and the aerospace industry. Hanwha presented a plan to invest 55 trillion won in the aerospace sector, and LG Group unveiled a 9.4 trillion won investment plan for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for AI data centers.
The government plans to designate small modular reactors (SMR) as a national strategic technology and to continue measures such as establishing a domestic production promotion tax scheme and providing subsidies. Doosan Enerbility will invest 806.8 billion won in its Changwon plant in South Gyeongsang Province to build the world's first dedicated SMR production facility.
