Korea accelerates chip hub construction by two years

Industry

Published: 27 Jun. 2023, 19:21

Korea accelerates chip hub construction by two years

From left, LH President Lee Han-joon, Yongin Mayor Lee Sang-il, Samsung Electronics President Kyung Kye-hyun, Minister of Transport Won Hee-ryong and Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon pose for a photo after holding a meeting at Samsung Electronics' Giheung Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

Korea will shorten the construction period of Yongin's mega semiconductor hub by two years, with the country looking to secure supremacy in the semiconductor business amid increasing global risk from the rivalry between the United States and China.

Dubbed the Korea Silicon Hills, the joint project between the government and Samsung Electronics aims to be the world's biggest semiconductor cluster that can compete with United States' Texas or Taiwan's Hsinchu Science Park.

It is expected to host five chip fabrication plants as well as other small-and-midsized chip design firms and research centers on a 7.1-million-square-meter (1,754-acre) site just outside Seoul.

Samsung Electronics pledged to invest 300 trillion won ($230.1 billion) into the project through 2042.

“The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will shorten the construction period by a third from seven years to five years in order to carry out the President’s instructions that emphasized the speed of establishing the industrial complex,” the Transport Ministry said in a release Tuesday.

“We will embark on the site building work at the end of 2026.”

The Transport Ministry held a pan-government meeting at Samsung Electronics’ Giheung Campus in Yongin, Gyeonggi on Tuesday where officials from the Environment Ministry, Industry Ministry, Agricultural Ministry, as well as Gyeonggi Province and the city of Yongin, convened to discuss strategies for building the cluster.

Kyung Kye-hyun, President of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business, was also present at the meeting.

The Transport Ministry said it will cooperate by lifting regulations on farmlands, as well as speeding up the preliminary assessment process. It also pledged to work closely with the Ministries of Industry and Environment to secure ample electricity and water to ensure the manufacturing plants’ smooth operation.

Samsung Electronics estimates the cluster will require at least 0.4 gigawatts of electricity by the end of 2030 and more than 7 gigawatts by 2042 when the five fabrication plants become operational.

"In order to secure semiconductor supremacy in the future amid fierce global competition, the central and provincial governments as well as the private sector have to cooperate with each other," said Ministry of Transport Won Hee-ryong Tuesday.

Samsung Electronics President Kyung said Tuesday “preemptively securing manufacturing capacity is needed more than anything” to race ahead in the extremely competitive chip business.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]