Industry ministry selects four new specialized industrial clusters

The industry ministry on Thursday selected four new specialized clusters for materials, parts and equipment, designating sites in South Gyeongsang, Daejeon, North Jeolla and South Chungcheong provinces as the third batch of such hubs.

The selection comes as global supply chain restructuring and major industrial shifts have increased the need for a stable supply chain ecosystem. The government plans to inject a total of 160 billion won over five years, averaging 40 billion won per cluster, to leverage 7.7 trillion won in private investment.

The South Gyeongsang cluster in Geoje will focus on shipbuilding and offshore plants, with Hanwha Ocean serving as the anchor company to localize key equipment for liquefied natural gas floating production units. In Daejeon, the defense-focused cluster will involve LIG D&A and Hanwha Aerospace developing precision electronic and optical components for systems such as the KF-21 and K9.

North Jeolla's cluster in Gunsan and Iksan will target semiconductor chemical materials, where companies including Dongwoo Fine-Chem, Hansol Chemical, OCI and PKC plan to advance technologies for cleaning, etching and deposition processes. The South Chungcheong site in Cheonan and Asan will specialize in semiconductor backend processes, with Hanamicro and TSE working to achieve self-sufficiency in high-bandwidth memory packaging equipment and test components.

"The new specialized clusters are set to function as core production bases for establishing Korea as an 'indispensable industrial power' amidst global supply chain and industrial reorganization, while also serving as hubs for balanced growth," said Kim Jung-kwan, the minister of trade, industry and energy.