Assemblyman Jinwook Jung: "Attracting Semiconductor FABs to Gwangju Is the Starting Point for Integrated Gwangju's Future Industries"

"Fostering the Integrated Metropolitan City as a Key Hub of the Southern Semiconductor Innovation Belt"

A strategy to overcome the limitations of semiconductor manufacturing facilities concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area and foster Gwangju and Jeonnam as southern semiconductor production hubs was discussed in Gwangju.

Assemblyman Jinwook Jung of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gwangju Dongnam-gap) held a forum titled "Why Gwangju as a Semiconductor City? – Strategies for Attracting Semiconductor FABs to Gwangju" at the Special Budget and Settlement Committee meeting room of the Gwangju City Council on June 8.

Jinwook Jung, Member of the National Assembly of the Democratic Party of Korea.

This forum was organized as a follow-up discussion to the three previous "K-Semiconductor Triangle Forums" held at the National Assembly. Participants discussed ways to leverage Gwangju and Jeonnam's strengths—including electricity, water resources, talent, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the optical industry, and advanced packaging infrastructure—to foster the soon-to-be-established metropolitan city in July as a key hub of the southern semiconductor innovation belt.

Assemblyman Jung served as moderator, with Professors Sangwan Ryu and Jongsun Maeng of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Semiconductor Joint Research Institute and Sunjoo An of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Chonnam National University presenting. Among the discussants were Hongsang Ahn, Director of the Semiconductor Division at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy; Jaedo Song, Professor at the Chonnam National University School of Business Administration; and Youngbaek Kim, Director of the Nano-Convergence Technology Center at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.

The presenters emphasized that Gwangju could grow into a core location for the next-generation semiconductor industry.

Professor Sangwan Ryu stated, "Gwangju has the potential to become a core hub for manufacturing next-generation optical-interconnection-based AI semiconductors on the strength of its advanced packaging and optical industries, so active policy support from the government is necessary."

Professor Jongsun Maeng remarked, "By attracting major public infrastructure such as a public-private joint foundry fab and an advanced packaging demonstration center, Gwangju should be nurtured as a talent hub in the southern region, covering semiconductor design, manufacturing, and packaging."

Professor Sunjoo An said, "As RE100 requirements are being strengthened, Gwangju and Jeonnam, backed by the distributed energy-specialized zone system and renewable energy potential, are well-positioned to become RE100-compliant semiconductor production bases."

The follow-up discussion addressed the government's direction for nurturing the semiconductor industry, the expansion of advanced packaging and public infrastructure, and support measures for building the local semiconductor ecosystem.

Assemblyman Jung said, "Since 2021, I have been working to attract semiconductor plants. Amid soaring demand for memory semiconductors, it is essential to expand manufacturing capacity, and now a new opportunity has come to integrated Gwangju."

He added, "Until now, Gwangju has been an industrially marginalized region that did not receive enough opportunities at the center of national high-tech industries, but now it must fulfill its role as a strategic region for Korea's future. The AI data center, AI cluster, renewable energy and nuclear power as baseload energy sources, and water resources are all crucial foundations for attracting semiconductor FABs to Gwangju."

Assemblyman Jung also stated, "At the National Assembly level, we will provide institutional and budgetary support, and the integrated metropolitan city should strategically combine industrial sites, talent, energy, and water infrastructure. I will do my utmost to help Gwangju rise as a semiconductor production hub."

Min Hyungbae, Mayor-elect of the Integrated Gwangju Metropolitan City, was also in attendance at the forum.

In his congratulatory remarks, Mayor-elect Min said, "Yesterday at the event, Prime Minister Minseok Kim assured me that something significant will definitely come to integrated Gwangju. Opportunity is coming our way, and it is our task to make the most of it."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.