Industry minister opens southwest swing with 800 trillion won chip project

South Korea's industry minister, Kim Jung-kwan, began a three-region tour on Monday in the southwest, where he inspected the site of an 800 trillion won ($598 billion) semiconductor project and convened a strategy meeting on applying artificial intelligence to shipbuilding, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.

Kim visited Gwangju military airport, a candidate site, and shared the status of temporary airport relocation, industrial complex designation and site preparation, and power and water supply plans with the Gwangju-Jeonnam integrated special city, the Air Force, the Korea Land and Housing Corp., Korea Electric Power Corp. and the Korea Water Resources Corp. He asked officials to ensure site preparation, power and water infrastructure and resident acceptance proceed without disruption so that corporate investment can be made on schedule, and he thanked them for their cooperation.

Kim then attended a strategy meeting of the shipbuilding M.AX Alliance at Hotel Hyundai by Lakhan in Mokpo. The alliance is a branch of M.AX Alliance, a government-industry-academia-research body, and expands the autonomous ship M.AX Alliance launched last year to cover the whole shipbuilding manufacturing process. At the event, agreements were signed on investment and cooperation for a project to build an AI-operated shipyard lighthouse factory and to spread manufacturing AI to small and mid-sized shipbuilders and equipment makers in the region, and the meeting presented the "Three Flagship Projects for Growing Together in Shipbuilding M.AX" and the first basic plan for developing and commercializing autonomous ships for 2026-2035.

Afterward, Kim toured the HD Hyundai Samho shipyard in Yeongam, looking at a sub-assembly line using collaborative robots, an AI-based process monitoring platform, and welding robots and quadruped robots, and encouraged workers there. He reviewed how AI and robotics could be used in shipbuilding production and how M.AX could spread to smaller regional shipbuilders and equipment suppliers.

"We will ensure that the investment foundation, including land, power and water, is prepared without disruption so that investment in the semiconductor megaproject is carried out on time, and in the shipbuilding industry we will apply AI to design and production sites to dramatically improve shipyard productivity and workers' conditions," Kim said. He added that he would carefully attend to the tasks needed on the ground so that large corporate investment and innovation in mainstay industries in the southwest lead to regional economic growth.

The ministry said it will continue the regional tour to Gangwon and the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area. Kim's schedule includes Gangwon on Wednesday, where a bio industry development agreement will be signed and support measures discussed covering technology development, infrastructure, regulation and exports for the bio and medical device industries, along with meetings with growth-engine investors and the Hupeyong bio mini alliance. On Oct. 28 he will attend the completion ceremony of a battery testing and demonstration center in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region and the third M.AX regional expansion conference. Within this month, he plans to chair a fourth megaproject review meeting for the Chungcheong region, where he will hear investment status and difficulties from companies, check local governments' progress on permits, and discuss power and water supply with related ministries, including the climate ministry.