Lee Gyu-lee is a business writer at The Korea Times, focusing primarily on IT & telecommunications, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and KOTRA. Prior to this, she has covered a wide range of cultural news, from film, television and K-pop to lifestyle and fashion.
Gwangju Airport site chosen for southwestern chip hub
A view of a military airport in Gwangju / Yonhap
By Lee Gyu-lee
Military, civilian airport functions to be moved to Muan
An airport in Gwangju has been selected as the site for a new semiconductor cluster, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are expected to build facilities there as part of the government’s megaprojects aimed at expanding the country's chip manufacturing capacity.
Graphic by Cho Sang-won
The Gwangju Airport location was chosen during a meeting of officials from relevant government organizations and executives from the companies, which was held a week after the chip giants announced their massive investment plan totaling 800 trillion won ($522 billion) for the cluster.
Gwangju Airport has both civilian and military functions, with civilian aircraft operating only domestic routes. Discussions have been ongoing about relocating the airport's operations to Muan, South Jeolla Province.
“Among the shortlisted candidate sites in the southwestern region, the companies said the airport site is the most suitable one,” presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said in a press briefing.
He explained that the airport site offers the strongest advantages due to its flattened terrain and strong transport links.
“The area can provide about 8.3 square kilometers of land and, as an airport, the ground has already been leveled, which would help minimize construction time for site preparation,” Kang said.
Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik speaks during a press briefing at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Joint Press Corps
According to Kang, the companies also cited its proximity to downtown Gwangju and a KTX station as strengths for securing a workforce and offering quality residential conditions, which they said provides excellent logistics access through connections to roads, airports and seaports.
Kang said relevant government officials would move swiftly to complete the formal designation process and begin developing the cluster.
He emphasized that the project is expected to face relatively few land acquisition hurdles as the airport site is state-owned.
While Gwangju Airport also hosts an Air Force base for pilot training, Kang said the government and the military would ensure that its relocation would not cause a security vacuum.
However, the government has yet to finalize detailed plans for power and water supplies, which will be critical to supporting the large-scale fabs that Samsung and SK hynix intend to build.
Kang said Monday’s meeting focused primarily on mapping out the overall implementation schedule, adding that more infrastructure measures will be presented as the presidential office holds monthly meetings on the megaprojects.
"Today's meeting was not intended to produce detailed reports from ministers. It was a first step to identify what should be brought forward and what the government needs in order to move faster," he said.
"As the president has decided to personally oversee the project through monthly meetings for the time being, more concrete plans for electricity and water supply will be presented going forward."
He added the 8.3-square-kilometer site is being planned on the assumption that both companies will base all of their southwestern operations there.