With the government having confirmed plans to build a Honam semiconductor cluster industrial complex on the site of the Gwangju military airport, the People Power Party said critical infrastructure — power, water and labor — must be assessed before a location is chosen. The move appears to be a direct challenge to the government's approach and an effort to differentiate the party on semiconductor policy.
The PPP's Special Committee on Semiconductors and AI Advanced Industries co-hosted a forum titled "Consecutive Debate Forum for the Future and Survival of Semiconductors" with Rep. Joo Ho-young at the National Assembly members' office building on Thursday.
Kim Gyeong-gi, senior vice president of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers' semiconductor division, delivered the keynote address. He said the government "is now asking how to supply power and water after already announcing the location," adding that "announcing a site without quantitative comparison and verification of each factor repeats the power supply problems that emerged at the Yongin national industrial complex."
Kim classified power, water and labor as "necessary conditions" for a semiconductor cluster site, and industrial ecosystem, logistics, land, residential environment and governance as "sufficient conditions." He said power in particular "is the most capital-intensive factor with the longest lead time, making it virtually impossible to address after the fact."
He said that if four southwest-region memory chip fabrication plants are built, constant, uninterrupted power demand would reach 6.3 gigawatts — equivalent to about 4.5 units of a 1.4-gigawatt nuclear power plant. Combined with the Yongin semiconductor cluster, he added, the scale "would require redesigning the national power grid itself."
Kim also questioned the government's vision of a renewable energy-centered power supply. While acknowledging that the Honam region has abundant renewable energy potential, he said it "is not sufficient to meet the round-the-clock power that semiconductor factories require," noting that "the government itself has admitted that renewable energy alone is not easily manageable and has officially endorsed a parallel nuclear power approach."
PPP lawmaker Ko Dong-jin, a former Samsung Electronics president who attended the forum, said he had met with Korea Electric Power Corp. officials who told him that LNG power generation or nuclear power would ultimately be needed, and that power would have to be drawn from the Yeongnam region and South Chungcheong Province.
thanks@heraldcorp.com
