Gyeonggi-do Gov. Kim Dong-yeon has been engaged in “sales diplomacy” activities in which he has had meetings with Korean and foreign company officials to explain the province’s investment values in the past three years.
He has traveled a combined 206,695 km, equivalent to circulating the Earth five times, according to the provincial government.
In cooperation with public institutions under the umbrella of the province, Gyeonggi-do has been implementing multi-faceted strategies to attract investments, not only investments from Korean and foreign companies but also policy funds and the building of techno valleys.
As the reason for expanding investments on the back of Gov. Kim’s sales initiative, the Merck Korea CEO said, “Gyeonggi-do, with closely knitted communications systems encompassing the investment department and governor, may be declared as a most excellent cooperation partner.”
Merck is a global company specializing in three business areas – healthcare, life science and electronics materials. The company has about 63,000 employees in 65 countries around the globe.
Merck Korea, a Korean branch of Merck, has continuously invested into six facilities, including semiconductor and display material production and R&D centers, in the Gyeonggi-do areas, such as Pyeongtaek, Anseong and Siheung since 2002.
In October 2025, Merck opened a pin-on-dielectric (SOD) research center in Anseong.
Merck has invested more than about 250 billion won into the province until now and hired more than 900 employees, thus greatly contributing to creating jobs and invigorating the regional economy.
As for the reason for Merck Korea’s expanded investment, the company cited three strengths – geological proximity with major clients, a better environment for securing gifted manpower and the local authority’s determination for offering full support.
“Merck evaluates highly the significance of geological proximity for raising tech response speed and collaboration efficiency with major customers, and Gyeonggi-do has a better environment for securing excellent manpower and the local authority’s will for offering full support, and these, coupled with excellent industry infrastructure, could be considered as optimal location conditions,” Merck said.
“Gyeonggi-do’s bid to build a global semiconductor cluster has been greatly conducive to Merck’s expanding of business opportunities, and the provincial government has played as a strong partner of business-friendly policies and swift administration support as for issues related to investment and operation processes,” it said.
On Oct. 27, 2025, Gov. Kim struck an MOU with Entegris, a global company headquartered in Boston, the United States, to expand molybdenum production centers in Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek.
As for the reason for his company’s investing into the province, CEO Kim Jae-won of Entegris Korea, said, “It is owed to close cooperation with global client companies in the region, leading the future of technologies, and Gyeonggi-do has been widely perceived as not only an excellent manufacturing hub, but also a technology convergence center.”
Entegris is a semiconductor solution company headquartered in Massachusetts, specializing in semiconductor, life science and advanced industry advanced materials and process solutions.
The company set up a head office and a research institute in Suwon in 2012 and it is operating plants in Jangan, Hwaseong, and Oseong in Pyeongtaek.
In July 2025, Entegris established Kore Technology Center at Hanyang University Erica Campus, designed to specialize in R&D, analysis service and demonstrate processes.
Entegris has so far invested 147 billion won into Gyeonggi-do and hired more than 400 employees in the region. The company plans to make an additional investment of some $50 million.
On the back of companies’ favorable evaluation and the provincial government’s continued efforts, the current 8th publicly elected provincial government has attracted more than 100 trillion won, achieving the goal Gov. Kim promised to achieve as he took office.
Gov. Kim officially announced his achieving the 100 trillion won investment attraction goal by attracting global semiconductor companies while making a visit to the United States last October.
Gov. Kim’s attracting more than 100 trillion while in office came true in two years and eight months after he revealed the goal in February 2023.
Gyeonggi-do attracted a combed 31.034 trillion won from 94 Korean and global companies, including onsemi of the United States and ASM.
The provincial government attracted investments worth a combined 100.056 trillion won, including 40.999 trillion won in advanced areas from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and 21.534 trillion won for building of industrial complexes, self-sufficiency cities and innovative clusters and 6.487 trillion won for G-Fund and state R&D.
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