Amkor breaks ground on 3 trillion won Gwangju plant expansion

Amkor Technology Korea broke ground Monday on a 3 trillion won ($2.22 billion) expansion of its Gwangju plant, more than doubling an investment plan announced in June to meet growing demand for advanced chip packaging, the industry ministry said.

The company now plans to spend 3 trillion won between 2026 and 2031 and hire about 2,000 workers, up from an earlier plan of 1 trillion won and roughly 1,000 jobs. The increase reflects rising demand for advanced packaging, the technology that stacks and connects separate chips to improve performance and power efficiency.

Amkor is a US-headquartered packaging specialist that generated about 9 trillion won in revenue last year and operates more than 20 sites in eight countries. Its Korean unit employs about 8,400 people across plants in Songdo, Bupyeong and Gwangju, and posts annual revenue of more than 5 trillion won ($3.71 billion).

The new buildings will produce advanced packaging for AI and high-performance computing products. Two are scheduled for completion in the second half of 2027, with two more in the first half of 2028, when mass production is due to begin.

The investment marks the start of implementation of a Gwangju plan Amkor presented at a June 30 public briefing on the development vision for South Korea's southwestern region. "Today's groundbreaking is the first signal that semiconductor investment in the southwestern region is moving from plans to the site, and a decision made by a global company that believes in the future of South Korea and Gwangju," Lee Min-woo, head of the ministry's industrial growth office, said at the ceremony.

Lee said the government would work closely with other ministries and local governments to address difficulties companies face throughout the investment process. "As an advanced packaging plant that will determine semiconductor competitiveness in the AI era comes to Gwangju, we will help the semiconductor ecosystem take root in the southwestern region," he said.

The ceremony was attended by Lee, Gwangju Mayor Min Hyung-bae, Amkor headquarters executives and representatives of global customers.