Favored Industries, Favored Areas
The government has designated seven specialized complexes for the nation’s advanced strategic industries such as semiconductors, secondary batteries, and displays. In addition to this, five specialized complexes for materials, parts and equipment have also been newly designated to focus on five other sectors, including future cars and biotechnology.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy has revealed its plans on July 20 to develop Yongin and Pyeongtaek into the world’s largest semiconductor cluster, focusing on memory and system semiconductors. Gumi will play a significant role as a semiconductor materials hub, while Cheongju, Pohang, Saemangeum, and Ulsan are identified as strategic locations for secondary batteries and Cheonan and Asan for next-generation displays.
Furthermore, the ministry will also establish specialized complexes for materials, parts, and equipment in five other regions. Gwangju will be designated for future cars and autonomous vehicle components, Daegu for future cars and electric motor technologies, Chungbuk Osong for biotechnology and raw materials for biopharmaceuticals, Busan for semiconductors and power semiconductors, and Gyeonggi Anseong for semiconductors and semiconductor equipment. This brings the total number of specialized complexes for the materials, parts and equipment sector to ten, including the five previously designated complexes in February 2021.
The government expects private investments of a total of 614 trillion won (US$480.43 billion) by 2042 in the newly designated national strategic industry specialized complexes and approximately 6.7 trillion won (US$5.24 billion) by 2032 in the materials, parts, and equipment specialized complexes. To facilitate these investments, it has pledged comprehensive support by providing tailored packages, including expedited permit and approval processing (60-day timeout system), deregulation measures, tax incentives, budget support, eased building capacity restrictions, and improvements to infrastructure such as electricity and water facilities.
Regarding the new biotechnology industry, which was designated as a national strategic industry in May, the ministry plans to announce a specialized complex in the second half of this year and designate it in the first half of next year.
During the Advanced Strategic Industry Committee meeting held on the same day, eight “National Strategic Industry Specialized Universities,” including Seoul National University, were selected. The government will provide a total of 54 billion won (US$42.25 billion) this year to support these universities in developing interdisciplinary educational programs, securing excellent faculty, and creating practice and educational environments.
The ministry said that a total of 21 local governments applied for the designation of national strategic industry specialized complexes this time, but they considered factors such as possession of advanced strategic technology, new investments by leading and related companies, potential for industrial ecosystem development, and regional balanced development in the selection process.