Gumi offers industrial land for 1,000 won per pyeong to lure semiconductor fabs

The city of Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province has thrown down a bold bid to secure a national semiconductor production hub, offering industrial land at roughly 1,000 won per pyeong — one pyeong equals 3.3 square meters — as an unprecedented incentive to attract semiconductor fabrication facilities, known as fabs.

Gumi Mayor Kim Jang-ho held an emergency press conference at city hall on Thursday, unveiling a fab-attraction strategy centered on the second phase of the Fifth National Industrial Complex. "Gumi is the optimal location to simultaneously realize the competitiveness of South Korea's semiconductor industry and balanced national development," Kim said.

The proposal comes as the Honam region in southwestern Korea has been mentioned as a candidate site for large-scale new semiconductor investments by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, prompting Gumi to aggressively highlight its own industrial strengths.

The city proposed supplying the entire 820,000-pyeong second phase of the Fifth National Industrial Complex as fab land at around 1,000 won per pyeong. The value of incentives the city would provide under that scenario would reach approximately 1.2 trillion won ($780 million).

As a first step, the city plans to offer a 400,000-pyeong site capable of accommodating two fab buildings, with the support effect expected to reach around 600 billion won.

Kim also made the case that Gumi is the ideal location for semiconductor production.

The city is already home to 309 companies in the semiconductor materials, parts and equipment sector — including SK Siltron and LG Innotek — and has built out a semiconductor value chain that includes AI data centers, Kim said.

He added that the second phase of the Fifth National Industrial Complex sits within 10 kilometers of the planned Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Airport, giving the site a competitive edge in global logistics.

"In line with the government's balanced national development policy, it is the right direction to create new growth hubs outside the capital region," Kim said. "Gumi has everything — the highest concentration of materials, parts and equipment companies in the country, plus power, water and logistics — making it the premier location for a semiconductor fab in Korea."

He added that the city would "further expand regulatory improvements and support to create a business-friendly investment environment, and leap forward as a core pillar of South Korea's semiconductor industry innovation belt through bold investment attraction."