en.Wedoany.com Reported - On July 3, South Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, Choi Sang-mok, announced that the country will drive major companies including SK, Samsung, Hanwha, Hyundai Motor, LG, and Doosan to invest over 312 trillion won in the southeastern Yeongnam region, focusing on developing semiconductors, AI data centers, robotics, advanced batteries, aerospace, and high-end manufacturing industries. Among them, SK Group plans to invest approximately 140 trillion won, and Samsung plans to invest about 60 trillion won, with the two companies together accounting for the majority of the disclosed investment scale.
SK and Samsung are the core semiconductor and AI infrastructure players in this round of industrial investment. SK Group's investment focus includes building an AI data center in Ulsan and deploying around semiconductors, memory, server computing power, power infrastructure, and regional manufacturing capabilities. SK Hynix itself is a major global supplier of memory chips and HBM, and the rising demand from AI servers for high-bandwidth memory, DRAM, NAND, and data center storage makes its investment direction highly correlated with the global expansion of AI computing power. The construction of AI data centers will in turn drive semiconductor demand, from GPUs, HBM, and SSDs to high-speed network chips and power management chips, all entering the same computing infrastructure chain.
Samsung's approximately 60 trillion won investment also revolves around semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. Public plans indicate that Samsung will advance humanoid robots, new AI data centers, and smartphone production projects in Gumi, and will involve Samsung SDI's advanced battery production lines, Samsung Heavy Industries' ship and marine infrastructure, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics' Busan project. For Samsung, investment in the Yeongnam region not only serves terminal manufacturing but also creates synergies with its foundry, memory chip, advanced packaging, battery, and electronic components businesses. As AI data centers and the robotics industry continue to expand, Samsung's memory, logic chips, sensors, power devices, MLCCs, and battery businesses will gain more application entry points.
The industrial focus of this 312 trillion won investment is not ordinary regional development, but rather building a new industrial corridor centered on semiconductors and AI manufacturing. Southeastern South Korea already has a foundation in automotive, shipbuilding, machinery, electronics, and heavy chemical industries. The entry of SK and Samsung will connect memory chips, AI data centers, robot manufacturing, advanced batteries, and electronic components into the existing manufacturing system. Semiconductor projects require cleanrooms, ultrapure water, stable power, specialty gases, materials, equipment maintenance, and highly skilled engineering talent; AI data centers need large-scale power supply, servers, network switches, optical modules, cooling systems, and operations teams. These demands will drive the transformation of the region from a traditional industrial base to an AI and semiconductor infrastructure cluster.
Investments from Hanwha, Hyundai Motor, LG, and Doosan complement the aerospace, automotive smart manufacturing, new displays, and high-end equipment sectors. Hanwha plans to invest approximately 55 trillion won, involving satellites, launch vehicles, defense, and aerospace-related AI data centers; Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest about 42 trillion won, focusing on AI autonomous driving, manufacturing AI, future core components, and next-generation aerospace manufacturing; LG and Doosan plan to invest approximately 9.4 trillion won and 5.1 trillion won, respectively, in new displays, high-end home appliance R&D, and related manufacturing capabilities. South Korea also announced a national aerospace strategy centered on Sacheon, planning to build a southern coastal aerospace industry belt, running parallel to semiconductor and AI manufacturing investments.
Whether a true industrial cluster can ultimately form will hinge on the construction progress of SK and Samsung's projects. Semiconductor and AI data center investments involve large sums and long construction cycles, with high demands on power, land, permits, talent, and supply chain coordination. If SK's AI data center and Samsung's semiconductor, robotics, and electronic components projects continue to advance, the Yeongnam region will absorb more demand for semiconductor equipment, materials, servers, energy storage, power equipment, robot components, precision machining, and industrial software.
