Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong announced the group's semiconductor investment plan today (the 29th), stating, "Among several regions, we are planning Gwangju as a candidate site, as we expect support in terms of power, water supply, securing talent, and various other infrastructure incentives."

During the National Report on the Three Mega Projects for South Korea's Great Leap Forward, presided over by President Lee Jae-myung at the Blue House today, Chairman Lee said, "Following Giheung, Hwaseong, and Pyeongtaek, the investment schedule for the Yongin National Industrial Complex has accelerated significantly, and the time to prepare for a new complex has also moved up," explaining the rationale behind the plan.

For cutting-edge packaging technology, he unveiled an investment plan for the Chungcheong region.

Chairman Lee stated, "High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), which is indispensable for the training and inference of artificial intelligence (AI) models, requires state-of-the-art technology to stack semiconductor chips and demands processes at the level of a main fab," adding, "We will concentrate our HBM fab investments in the Chungcheong region, including Cheonan and Onyang, alongside existing semiconductor back-end process fabs."

Regarding investments in physical AI, such as humanoid robots, he announced, "We will focus investments related to robotics, along with internal AI data centers for the Samsung Group, in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province."

Samsung SDI plans to continue its investments in next-generation solid-state batteries and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), centering on Ulsan in South Gyeongsang Province.

Samsung Heavy Industries will expand its investments in the next-generation shipbuilding business in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics will increase investments in cutting-edge package substrates, focusing on its Busan plant.

Chairman Lee also emphasized, "We will concentrate investments in the bio business, which is a strategic sector for Samsung with high growth potential, in Songdo, Incheon, to develop it into the world's largest bio cluster."

Chairman Lee concluded by saying, "I am confident that if companies, the government, and local municipalities join forces, we can create an irreplaceable South Korea as the President has described," adding, "As a business leader, I am honored to contribute to this effort."

(Photo: Blue House Press Corps, Yonhap News)