Provincial semiconductor fabs are a national strategy, says presidential advisor Kim Yong-beom, refuting opposition criticism

Presidential policy advisor Kim Yong-beom has asserted that establishing large-scale semiconductor fabrication plants beyond the Seoul metropolitan area could serve as a potent national strategy. His remarks come as political debate intensifies over the effectiveness of major provincial investments by companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, just a day before their planned announcements.

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Large-scale semiconductor fabrication plants outside the Seoul metropolitan area can be a very strong national strategy.

Kim, writing on Facebook, stressed that semiconductors are no longer confined to a single industry. He described them as a pivotal factor in the current era, intricately linked to the economy, national security, education, youth opportunities, regional development, finance, and real estate. He warned that the benefits of artificial intelligence might not be evenly distributed, with highly productive industries reaping significant rewards while others face greater pressure, necessitating exceptional national strategies.

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Semiconductors are no longer a problem for a specific industry. They are the core variable of an era that connects everything: economy and security, education and youth, the metropolitan area and the provinces, finance and real estate.

To address this, Kim proposed a bold approach: constructing more fabrication plants, diverting excess liquidity into overseas investments and future-oriented funds, and ensuring domestic capital fuels new industries and cities instead of Seoul's apartment market. He characterized this not merely as a regional development policy but as industrial policy to boost AI-era production capacity. It's a macroeconomic strategy to channel semiconductor boom profits into factories, power grids, water infrastructure, research facilities, equipment industries, and new urban development. Simultaneously, he noted, it functions as a social policy, creating hundreds of thousands of quality jobs and providing a ladder for young people into new industries.

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We must design it so that fabs are built more boldly, excess liquidity is dispersed into overseas investments and future response funds, and remaining domestic funds are used to create new industries and new cities, not Seoul apartments.

Addressing political disputes, Kim argued that past ideologies and political frameworks are insufficient to explain current challenges. He cautioned that getting bogged down in unproductive debates and endless procedures could lead to missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This statement comes amid criticism from the People Power Party, which accuses the government of pressuring companies into making large investments. Kim had previously defended the water supply plans for the Honam region, stating that sufficient water resources are available, countering concerns about shortages.

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This is not a regional balanced development policy, but industrial policy to increase production capacity in the AI era.