South Korea’s vision for a major semiconductor manufacturing centre beyond Seoul faces escalating obstacles including electricity supply, water provision, and public opposition, casting doubts over the project’s timetable.
South Korea’s extensive project to construct a semiconductor manufacturing hub in the southwest part of the country is confronted by considerable infrastructural obstacles with energy supply, water resources and public sentiment forming major issues.
According to the Reuters, such problems could undermine the administration’s ability to disperse the rewards from the AI chip boom outside Seoul’s metropolitan area.
The anticipated Honam semiconductor facility, costing at least US$540 billion, is an important element in President Lee Jae Myung’s blueprint to boost the country’s chip industry.
Industry professionals, however, advise that the four proposed fabrication plants will demand an immense supply of electricity, where their demand may account for 70 to 80 per cent of current annual energy consumption in the southwestern provinces of Gwangju, North Jeolla and South Jeolla.
Local residents have voiced strong objection to the building of new transmission lines, new reactors, and higher levels at the existing reservoir citing poor communication with officials. “A huge amount of new power demand is coming into a region that previously had little, and that’s the core of the problem”, explained Neal Won, principal analyst at S&P Global Energy.
Around 650,000 metric tonnes of water daily, which exceeds the city of Gwangju’s daily supply to residents, is expected to be needed by the cluster.
The government has indicated plans to coordinate with the local governing bodies to upgrade the relevant infrastructure and gain acceptance of public communities, but according to the Economic Times, industry experts are warning that delays to the energy and water projects could hamper the cluster’s scheduled 2030 completion.
