[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyung-wook] Riding the wave of the semiconductor super-boom, the possibility of additional investments by #Samsung Electronics and #SK Hynix in the Honam and Chungcheong regions is being discussed. The direction itself is desirable. With demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and server DRAM exploding due to the spread of artificial intelligence (AI), delaying investment would effectively mean ceding market share. Given that the capacity of the Seoul metropolitan area’s power grid, water supply, and land availability has reached its limits, expanding production bases in the long term is not an option but a necessity.
However, there is a prerequisite. To attract corporate investment, the government must design a comprehensive package that includes not only unprecedented fiscal and tax incentives but also improved living conditions and a workforce training system. This is because semiconductor factories cannot operate on buildings and equipment alone. A vast network of specialized personnel, suppliers, research institutions, universities, logistics networks, and residential, educational, and cultural infrastructure must all function in tandem. While water, electricity, and land are essential, they alone cannot build an industry. Conditions are needed for anchor companies, as well as their employees and suppliers, to relocate and settle together.
Competitor nations are already moving in this direction. Japan has invested massive subsidies to attract TSMC’s Kumamoto plant, while the U.S. and China are also sparing no expense in financial support and regulatory exemptions to attract semiconductor companies. Our government must also provide sufficient incentives so that regional investment by Korean companies is perceived as an “opportunity” rather than a “cost.”
What we must be even more cautious about is ensuring that discussions on additional regional investments do not disrupt the existing semiconductor ecosystem in the Seoul metropolitan area. The Yongin Semiconductor Mega-Cluster is a national core project being jointly pursued by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and global materials, parts, and equipment companies. If new investments disrupt the existing project under the guise of balanced development, it could weaken the semiconductor agglomeration effect and undermine the core competitiveness of the national economy. New investments must be discussed strictly as a second growth engine, not as a substitute for existing investment plans.
Amid intensifying global competition in high-tech industries, semiconductors are a core pillar supporting our economy. While balanced regional development is also an important domestic value, we must not allow it to undermine the value of our future industries. When it comes to semiconductors, industrial logic must take precedence over political logic.
