[Anchor]

Semiconductors, physical AI, and data centers—these three mega-projects are set to completely reshape South Korea's future industrial landscape.

Reporter Park Jae-hyun explains which industries will be established in which regions.

[Reporter]

The most notable development is the establishment of a memory chip manufacturing hub in the newly formed Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, which will launch next month.

A total of 800 trillion won will be invested to build four memory chip plants, including two for Samsung Electronics and two for SK Hynix.

The Yeongnam region will be developed into a hub for materials, parts, and equipment, leveraging its existing semiconductor industrial base.

While specific investment figures were not disclosed, the region is expected to become an innovation hub for promising technologies, including a supply chain hub for semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment, as well as power semiconductors.

The Chungcheong region has been designated as the hub for advanced packaging and back-end processes, where produced semiconductors are cut and wired onto substrates.

Samsung and SK Hynix plan to invest an additional 81 trillion won to build further packaging plants in the area.

The government's plan is to secure a definitive lead in the memory chip market by expanding semiconductor hubs nationwide and accelerating the completion of the six Samsung Electronics plants and four SK Hynix plants currently under construction in Yongin by 7 and 12 years, respectively.

The hubs for physical AI and robotics will be located in Saemangeum and the Daegu-Gyeongbuk (Daegyeong) region.

A robot manufacturing plant and parts complex, led by Hyundai Motor Company, will be built in Saemangeum. The government will also provide support to help automotive and home appliance parts companies in the Daegyeong region transition into robot parts manufacturers.

The goal is to become the world leader in physical AI by 2030 through abundant manufacturing infrastructure and training data management.

For AI data centers, three companies—SK, Naver, and GS—plan to invest 550 trillion won by 2029 to build facilities in Ulsan, Donghae, and Sejong, with plans to eventually expand the total investment to 1 quadrillion won.

[Bae Kyung-hoon / Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT: We will certainly see various effects, such as direct economic benefits, job creation through large-scale capital investment, and the emergence of leading solution companies.]

The government has decided to significantly ease relevant regulations and procedures to create sites that meet corporate needs, and will actively support the development of residential conditions and transportation infrastructure in these regions.

The move is seen as a strategy to simultaneously achieve balanced national development and the cultivation of next-generation industries by completely restructuring South Korea's industrial map toward high-tech future industries.

Reported by Park Jae-hyun | Video by Kim Jun-hee | Graphics by Jang Chae-woo