Chey Tae-won's One Remark Sends Stocks Soaring to 'Limit-Up'... This Stock Jumps Despite SK hynix's 3% Drop

Chey Makes First Visit to Gwangju Military Airport Site
Kumho Electric and Kumho Engineering & Construction Soar in Tandem

Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group, made an unexpected visit to the planned site of the KRW 400 trillion Honam semiconductor cluster, reaffirming his commitment to moving the project forward quickly and dispelling recent speculation in some quarters that the investment might be withdrawn. His remarks, which suggested the possibility of building the cluster in parallel with the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster and starting construction early to meet surging global demand for semiconductors, sent construction and development stocks based in the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions soaring.

SK hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won answers reporters' questions after an on-site visit on the afternoon of the 9th to the site of the military airport in Seo-gu, Jeonnam-Gwangju, where a semiconductor industrial complex is planned. Yonhap News Agency.

First Visit to Gwangju Military Airport Site... "We Will Start Construction First, Even if Water and Power Supplies Are Delayed"

According to industry sources on October 12, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won visited the ammunition depot site at the military airport in Seo-gu, Jeonnam-Gwangju, on the afternoon of October 9. Guided by Min Hyung-bae, mayor of Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City, he toured the planned site for the Honam semiconductor industrial complex. This was the first time an SK chairman had visited the site in person.

Speaking to reporters at the site, Chey said, "Demand for semiconductors is growing rapidly, so we need to accelerate the pace of supply to keep up," adding, "If the conditions are in place, we will build as quickly as possible." Regarding the start of construction, he said, "We need to study this further, but circumstances may require us to build it in parallel with the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster," and added, "Even if the national plans for supplying electricity and water are delayed, we will begin construction first if we can meet the timing."

On the scale of the project, he added, "We currently plan to build a cluster about two-thirds the size of the one in Yongin, with two fabs, but the Honam cluster could certainly grow larger if we secure more land and demand."

The site visit is seen as an effort to quell recent concerns in some quarters about investment delays or withdrawal. On September 30, Mayor Min reportedly said at a forum, "I heard that an SK official went to an assemblyman's office to brief them, and that they discussed whether SK might pull out or slow things down a little."

SK hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won. Yonhap News Agency

"If We Fall Behind Micron and China, It's Over"... A Race to Defend Global Market Share

Chey's emphasis on moving quickly continued at the International Business Advisory Council (IBAC) meeting in Shanghai, China, on October 11. Speaking to reporters, he said, "We need to expand production capacity as quickly as possible," and warned, "If Micron in the United States or Chinese companies expand capacity faster than we do, the Korean semiconductor industry's share of the global market will inevitably shrink."

SK Group is aggressively expanding its production base to more than double its current memory production capacity within the next five years. In addition to the Yongin Mega Cluster, the group is pursuing plans to build new fabs and a packaging plant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, with an investment of KRW 100 trillion, and in Indiana, United States, with an investment of US$3.87 billion (about KRW 5.2 trillion). It has also reaffirmed its commitment to developing the Honam semiconductor cluster.

Kumho Electric and Kumho Engineering & Construction Surge... SK hynix Weakens

After Chey's investment plans became known, stocks seen as beneficiaries of the Honam semiconductor project and based in Gwangju and Jeonnam surged across the board on October 12. According to the Korea Exchange, Kumho Electric, a leading company in Gwangju, hit its daily upper price limit of 29.93% during the session, closing at KRW 11,070. Kumho Engineering & Construction and its preferred shares also jumped more than 20% during the session. Other regional construction, materials, and development stocks, including Namhwa Construction, Dongyang Pile, DASCO, Bohae Brewery, and Bookuk Steel, also rose.

After the government's announcement of its "Three Mega-Projects" in late June, these stocks surged through August, with Kumho Electric rising about 2,000% and Kumho Engineering & Construction gaining more than 300%. They then fell amid questions about the projects' viability and speculation that the investment might be withdrawn. Chey's site visit is seen as having provided a powerful catalyst, drawing in buying interest all at once.

SK hynix, the company behind the large-scale investment, moved in the opposite direction, falling for a fourth consecutive trading day amid concerns about the near-term burden of deploying capital and fears that the semiconductor industry's upcycle may have peaked. After rising to KRW 1,842,000 on October 2, SK hynix fell 8.4% over the three trading days from October 6, then dropped another 3%-plus on October 12, slipping to the KRW 1.6 million range.

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