Military airport in Gwangju selected as site for chip cluster

A chopper flies over a military airport in Gwangju, Tuesday. Yonhap

A military airport in the southwestern city of Gwangju was selected Monday as the site for a government-led project to create a semiconductor production cluster, a presidential official said.

The selection was made in a meeting earlier in the day between government officials and top executives of leading chipmakers — Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — to discuss follow-up measures for the investment project, presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said at a press briefing.

Kang added that the president will hold monthly meetings to personally check the progress in the massive investment project.

The envisioned chip production cluster is part of the government's "three megaprojects" initiative, centered on large-scale investments in semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence (AI) and AI data centers in regional areas.

Under the chip cluster project, the two leading chipmakers have pledged to invest a combined 800 trillion won ($522 billion), marking the single-largest investment plan to date in the southwestern Gwangju and Honam area.