An aerial view of the Idong and Namsa-eup area in Yongin, where the advanced system semiconductor national industrial complex is set to be built. National Route 45 runs through the center of the site. [Yongin City]
An aerial view of the Idong and Namsa-eup area in Yongin, where the advanced system semiconductor national industrial complex is set to be built. National Route 45 runs through the center of the site. [Yongin City]

Yongin Mayor Lee Sang-il said Wednesday that the launch of the National Route 45 expansion project signals that the city's national semiconductor industrial complex is making progress despite continued interference from some political circles and groups opposed to power transmission infrastructure.

The expansion of National Route 45 — a key artery running through the Yongin Advanced System Semiconductor Cluster national industrial complex in the city's Idong and Namsa-eup areas — has moved closer to reality.

The Seoul Regional Land Management Office recently issued a tender notice for the Route 45 expansion under a turnkey design-build contract, Yongin Special City announced Wednesday.

The project will widen a 12.53-kilometer stretch from the Daechon intersection in Cheoin-gu to the Jangseo intersection in Yangseong-myeon, Anseong, passing through the semiconductor complex, expanding the road from four lanes to as many as six to eight lanes. The total construction cost is 891.1 billion won ($630 million), making it a large-scale national infrastructure project.

Calls for an early start to the Route 45 expansion have consistently grown, as traffic volumes are expected to surge with the development of the semiconductor complex and the Yongin Idong public housing district.

The city said it expects the turnkey tender to accelerate the pace of the project.

Since the government announced plans to build the national semiconductor complex on March 15, 2023, the city has repeatedly called on the government to waive the preliminary feasibility study for Route 45, arguing that the road must be widened ahead of schedule given its central role in the complex.

At the fifth pan-government task force meeting on Feb. 28, 2024, and the sixth on May 22, 2024, Mayor Lee called for waiving the preliminary feasibility study for Route 45 so that at least part of the road expansion could be completed before the complex's first fabrication plant begins operation.

The government announced on June 26, 2024, that it would waive the preliminary feasibility study and provide national funding for the project, and the waiver was formally confirmed on Aug. 22 of that year.

"In the semiconductor industry, speed is life and time is a subsidy," Lee said. "Given that overseas rivals such as China's CXMT and US-based Micron are rapidly closing in on South Korea's anchor semiconductor companies, we must move quickly to build the Yongin national complex and expand the supporting infrastructure."


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