800 Trillion Won 'Second Semiconductor Hub' in Honam... President Calls Business Leaders 'National Heroes'

[Anchor]

An investment plan for South Korea's new great leap forward, dubbed the 'Three Mega Projects,' has been announced. At its core is a plan to invest 800 trillion won in the Honam region to establish a second semiconductor production hub, following the one in the capital area. President Lee Jae-myung referred to Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won as "national heroes," bowing at a 90-degree angle to express his gratitude.

Our first report is from reporter Ha Jeongyeon.

[Reporter]

The 'Three Mega Projects' national briefing was held at the Blue House on the afternoon of June 29.

Approximately 100 people attended, including President Lee Jae-myung, Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Koo Yoon-cheol, government ministers, and business leaders such as Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Chairman Chey Tae-won.

President Lee emphasized that South Korea stands at a turning point for a new great leap, identifying semiconductors, physical AI, and AI data centers as the three pillars of this strategy.

[President Lee Jae-myung: Speed is the only way to survive. We must secure the core elements of artificial intelligence faster than any other country.]

The government announced plans to establish a second semiconductor production hub in the Honam region, following the one in the capital area, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix committing a total of 800 trillion won in investments in the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City.

The government also unveiled plans to boost the physical AI industry, including robotics, to become the "global number one" by 2030. This includes deploying 1,000 AI robots to industrial sites annually and training 10,000 specialized AI robotics personnel over the next five years. Additionally, a plan to invest 550 trillion won to build large-scale AI data centers and develop them into an export industry was announced.

Chairman Lee and Chairman Chey also delivered presentations, outlining large-scale investment plans for semiconductors and AI, including the construction of two memory fabs each by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the Jeonnam-Gwangju area.

[Lee Jae-yong / Samsung Electronics Chairman: Among various regions, we are planning for Gwangju as a candidate site, expecting advantages in power, water supply, human resources, and significant incentive support.]

[Chey Tae-won / SK Group Chairman: We are planning approximately 1,000 trillion won for the AI data center project and about 1,100 trillion won for the semiconductor supply expansion project.]

The Blue House stated that, combining the announcements from the government and both companies, the total investment scale amounts to 896 trillion won for the Honam region, 392 trillion won for the Chungcheong region, and 270 trillion won for the Yeongnam region.

[President Lee Jae-myung: On behalf of our business community, I would like to call these two individuals national heroes.]

President Lee bowed 90 degrees to each of the two chairmen in turn to express his appreciation.

[For the future of South Korea (Fighting!)]

Reported by Ha Jeongyeon | Video by Jung Sang-bo | Video Editing by Nam Il | Graphics by Seo Seung-hyun
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.