The Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City is mounting an all-out push to secure a semiconductor cluster designation for the area around Gwangju's former military airfield, the planned site of a southwestern semiconductor industrial complex.
The city held a review meeting on semiconductor cluster designation at Mayor Min Hyeong-bae's office in Gwangju city hall on Wednesday.
The meeting was convened to assess the key provisions of the enforcement decree for the Special Act on Strengthening Semiconductor Industry Competitiveness and Support, which the Cabinet approved Tuesday and which takes effect Monday, as well as the region's state of readiness and its strategy going forward.
Attendees included Mayor Min along with representatives from key regional semiconductor industry and research institutions — the Gwangju Technopark, the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI), the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), the Korea Photonics Technology Institute, Chonnam National University and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST).
The enforcement decree sets out the criteria for semiconductor cluster designation, specifying corporate move-in demand, the feasibility of securing infrastructure and financing, and contributions to balanced regional development, with preferential treatment for areas outside Greater Seoul. Designation may proceed either through direct action by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy or through applications submitted by local governments.
Designated clusters will receive national government funding covering 50 to 100 percent of the cost of building industrial infrastructure — including power, water, wastewater and road facilities — while tenant companies will be eligible for tax reductions and financial support.
Participants focused on four areas: the cluster designation criteria, procedures and support provisions contained in the enforcement decree; progress on drawing up a master plan for the semiconductor cluster; the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's direction for the Honam-region semiconductor cluster; and the city's strategy for securing the designation.
The Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City is accelerating its designation preparations, drawing on the locational strengths of the former Gwangju military airfield — the candidate site for the southwestern semiconductor national industrial complex. The city launched a master plan development study for the semiconductor cluster on July 23.
When the integrated special city was inaugurated on July 1, it enacted as its first ordinance the "Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City Global Semiconductor Strategic Investment Support Ordinance." It has since established a semiconductor strategy committee and a semiconductor industry support unit, and has been working to secure power and water supplies and develop a talent-cultivation plan.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has also stated its intention to complete the selection of a project operator and finalize the cluster designation for the southwestern semiconductor cluster this year, with a goal of breaking ground and beginning production within the current presidential term, while moving swiftly on power and water procurement and permitting procedures.
Going forward, the city plans to work closely with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy through established consultation channels to confirm the designation procedures and timeline, and to continue submitting formal requests for semiconductor cluster designation in tandem with the master plan development study.
"The enactment of the semiconductor special act's enforcement decree has laid the institutional groundwork for building a new semiconductor growth hub outside Greater Seoul," Mayor Min said. "Since the integrated special city already has the site and investment conditions in place, we will spare no effort in drawing up the master plan and will make the semiconductor cluster designation happen without fail."
He added that the city would "concentrate all administrative resources on establishing Jeonnam-Gwangju as a new growth engine for South Korea's semiconductor industry, building on the ordinances, dedicated organizations, power and water plans, and talent development foundations we have put in place."
sij@heraldcorp.com
