[Column] Is the 'Southern Boundary' Still Valid for the Semiconductor Industry?

Seungkwang Son / Honorary Professor, Dongshin University

<On the Controversy Over the Suitability of the Gwangju Military Airport Site>

It is a common belief that advanced industries should be located in the greater Seoul metropolitan area, where industrial infrastructure and highly skilled talent are concentrated, and that even when moving south, Daejeon is the practical boundary. As demonstrated by the experience of relocating public institutions, simply moving facilities does not automatically bring talent and a solid residential base.

This is why skepticism about fostering high-tech industries in regional areas still persists. In fact, some innovation cities have failed to meet expectations regarding projected population and the rate of families relocating together. I, too, have questioned whether the most advanced semiconductor industry could succeed in Gwangju, so-called 'southern boundary', beyond what was previously considered possible.

Seungkwang Sohn, Emeritus Professor at Dongshin University

However, a look at the global semiconductor production map reveals that proximity to a nation's capital is not an absolute criterion. TSMC has production bases not only in Hsinchu, but also in Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. Based on official site locations, the straight-line distance from Taipei to Tainan is about 250 kilometers, and TSMC’s Japanese subsidiary JASM is located in Kumamoto, roughly 870 kilometers from Tokyo. The distance from Seoul to Gwangju Military Airport is about 270 kilometers. The real success factor for high-tech industries lies in how effectively land, talent, and infrastructure are combined—not simply the distance from the capital.

Securing skilled personnel is cited as another critical challenge. Cutting-edge fabs require highly qualified engineers responsible for processing, devices, and yield. At the same time, a large group of experienced technicians is needed for plant operation, equipment maintenance, quality management, power, gas, ultra-pure water, and safety and environment. In reality, SK hynix planned to hire production and facility management talent separately among high-school and junior college graduates in 2026. Core talent should be secured through corporate rotation and industry-academia cooperation, while production technology talent must be connected to company needs through GIST, KENTECH, local universities, junior colleges, polytechnics, and vocational high schools. It is not that talent is lacking in regional areas; rather, the true challenge is how quickly the systems for education, hiring, and settlement can be established.

The essence of global semiconductor competition is technology and speed. China has launched production of its own immersion DUV equipment and, although it has not yet produced working chips with EUV equipment, it has caught up to the prototype testing stage. There remains a significant gap in performance and mass production reliability, but one should never underestimate the speed at which technological self-reliance is advancing. Even technology that is a generation ahead can lose the market if investment and mass production are delayed.

From this perspective, the advantages of Gwangju Military Airport are clear. The government and industry plan to establish four memory fabs in the southwest region, with a total investment of approximately 800 trillion won. Based on corporate input, the government has selected 2.5 million pyeong of the Gwangju Military Airport site as the location for the semiconductor industrial complex and has begun follow-up procedures. A large, flat site; accessibility to the city center and KTX Gwangju Songjeong Station; and connectivity to roads, airports, and ports are all conditions that can shorten the land acquisition and development period.

Renewable energy, electricity, and water are fundamental for semiconductor plants. The government announced that it will ensure the timely supply of 6.3 GW of electricity and 650,000 tons of water per day needed for fabs in the southwest region. Honam’s potential in renewable energy is advantageous for RE100 compliance, but to gain true competitiveness, transmission lines, substations, energy storage (ESS), and water intake, treatment, and ultrapure water facilities must be completed on schedule alongside fab construction.

Decentralizing production bases is also an industrial security strategy. The United States explicitly cited economic and national security in supporting TSMC’s advanced fab in Arizona, and Japan created the Kumamoto-based JASM under government support. Given the Korean Peninsula’s geopolitical realities, excessive concentration of key production facilities in the capital area could spread the shocks from war, large-scale power outages, natural disasters, or supply chain disruptions nationwide. Gwangju must not be seen as a rival to Yongin, but as the second production axis that safeguards Korea’s semiconductor industry.

But simply erecting fabs will not guarantee success. The core production base at the military airport, research and startup spaces in downtown Gwangju, universities and research institutes such as GIST and KENTECH, materials, components and equipment firms, and residential spaces must all be connected as one innovation ecosystem. To make this work, phased corporate investment plans, the prompt relocation of the military airport, and win-win measures that Mu-an residents will feel firsthand must be implemented together.

The southern boundary of the semiconductor industry is not a matter of geographic destiny. The real boundary is how well the nation combines site, talent, power, water, speed, and security in practice. The Gwangju Military Airport semiconductor complex is not simply about supporting regional areas; it is a national strategy to bolster South Korea’s competitiveness and industrial security. The strategic direction chosen by the coalition of semiconductor companies aiming for future industrial leadership and overwhelming first-mover advantage stands in stark contrast to the fixed notion that regions outside the capital area cannot succeed.

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