On June 29, President Lee Jae-myung presided over a national briefing on the three mega projects “for Korea’s Great Leap Forward” at the State Guest House of the Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House) and announced a massive public-private joint investment plan to foster non-capital regions as hubs for high-tech industries.
This project is an economic revitalization measure of a historic scale that aims to induce trillions of won in private investment by establishing a semiconductor cluster in Jeolla Province and build AI data centers in Chungcheong Province, and physical AI and robot factories in Gyeongsang Province as its three main axes.
Business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, attended the event in person to officially unveil specific regional investment plans.
Since late last year, President Lee has been emphasizing the Jeolla region as the optimal location for the creation of semiconductor clusters.
It began with his request at the K-Semiconductor Vision and Development Strategy Briefing in December of 2025, where he urged attendees to turn their attention to the southern region, which is rich in renewable energy, and take an interest in building a new industrial ecosystem.
The semiconductor investment in the Jeolla region spearheaded by President Lee Jae-myung, aligns with the Korean government’s policy of “balanced regional growth.”
“We cannot help but consider the Jeolla region,” President Lee said.
“While investment plans for the Gyeongsang, Gangwon, and Chungcheong regions will be announced today, if we were to choose one region among them, the Jeolla region has been neglected in development for a long time. Therefore, it is high time to announce an investment plan for the Jeolla Province.”
Until now, South Jeolla Province and Gwangju have shown their economic weaknesses as they were thoroughly marginalized during Korea’s state-led industrialization process.
In particular, poor social infrastructure (SOC), as well as a lack of high-quality jobs at large corporations in these regions has fueled a chronic crisis of decreasing populations in these regions.
A look at the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) figures from the National Statistical Office reveals a stark disparity in marginalization.
While the Seoul Metropolitan Area, including Gyeonggi Province (approx. 696 trillion won) and Seoul (approx. 648 trillion won), monopolizes more than half of Korea’s total production, Gwangju City’s GRDP remains at around 59 trillion won, ranking among the lowest of all special and metropolitan cities.
This disparity in economic power has directly led to a drought of quality jobs. While the Seoul Metropolitan Area and the Gyeongsang region secured growth engines by monopolizing manufacturing bases and IT infrastructure for large corporations, the Jeolla region has had to endure a vicious cycle in which tens of thousands of young people leave the area every year in search of jobs due to a lack of large corporate bases.
In essence, it has faced a boomerang of marginalization, where backward infrastructure leads to a decline in production which in turn leads to a decrease in jobs.
The core of the measures announced by the Korean government is to transplant a super-gap semiconductor ecosystem to South Jeolla Province and Gwangju to turn the playing field around.
According to this plan, a mega-cluster is expected to be established in the border region between Jeonnam and Gwangju where not only semiconductor manufacturing plants (fabs) but also design (fabless companies) and material, component, and equipment suppliers will be concentrated.
The Korean government and the Presidential Office announced a policy to take responsibility for supplying key infrastructure, such as electricity and water, to ensure that companies can make unconventional investments in a timely manner.
Relevant ministries have proposed plans to preemptively expand the power grid essential for operating semiconductor lines and to link the abundant renewable energy resources of the Jeolla region.
Experts assess that this project will go beyond the simple creation of an industrial complex and will become a substantial economic cornerstone for the Jeonnam-Gwangju integrated Special City.
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