President Lee Jae Myung said Hyundai Motor Group’s more than $6 billion plan to build an innovation growth hub on reclaimed land in North Jeolla Province could “completely reshape the economic map” of South Korea’s southwestern region.
Lee attended an investment signing ceremony on Friday, as Hyundai unveiled a 9 trillion won ($6.26 billion) plan to build a suite of advanced facilities encompassing artificial intelligence, robotics and clean energy in Saemangeum, home to Korea’s largest land reclamation project.
Lee underscored the significance of Hyundai’s investment in advancing balanced regional growth — a key goal of the Lee administration to promote sustainable development beyond the concentration in the Greater Seoul area.
“At this Saemangeum, the symbol of North Jeolla Province’s growth and development, a new growth engine that will lead North Jeolla Province’s future and the Republic of Korea’s tomorrow is being prepared,” Lee said, referring to South Korea by its official name, in his speech at the investment agreement signing ceremony.
“This investment by Hyundai Motor Group is expected not only to secure the global competitiveness of the Republic of Korea’s artificial intelligence and robotics industries, but also to completely transform the economic map of the entire Honam region,” Lee added.
The Honam region comprises Gwangju and North and South Jeolla provinces in the southwestern part of Korea.
The project will utilize over 1.12 million square meters of land in the Saemangeum area. The plan includes an AI data center, a robotics manufacturing and components cluster, a water electrolysis plant, solar power generation facilities and an AI-powered hydrogen city.
“Saemangeum here boasts a vast site amounting to about 140 times the area of Yeouido and abundant sunlight, and its logistics and transportation infrastructure is also being solidly built up,” Lee said. “If Hyundai Motor Group’s innovative capabilities and abundant resources are combined, I believe Saemangeum can become a land of opportunity that demonstrates optimal synergy.”
In his speech, Lee underscored how an interconnected ecosystem linking clean energy, robotics manufacturing plants and AI-driven manufacturing could turn Saemangeum into a growth engine for the broader region.
Saemangeum’s wind and sunlight is to be turned into clean power, then into green hydrogen. This green hydrogen will be sent to nearby industrial complexes like those in nearby Jeonju and Wanju, becoming an essential energy source for local manufacturing. It will also provide a stable foundation for industries that will develop in Saemangeum.
With this clean-energy foundation, Saemangeum will house a large robotics manufacturing plant and parts cluster aimed at leading the global competition in physical AI, along with an AI data center.
The logistics and industrial robots produced at the plant will be the first of their kind mass-produced in Korea. They will connect to the AI data center and will keep learning and improving through ongoing data-driven training.
“On the strength of these advanced technologies, Saemangeum will clearly be transformed into a ‘city of the future’ where robots are conveniently used in everyday life by everyone,” Lee said. “Isn’t that right?”
Lee pledged that the government will respond to Hyundai’s investment “with even more decisive support,” including dramatically lowering regulatory and administrative barriers and improving living conditions for employees relocating to the region.
“I sincerely welcome Hyundai Motor Group’s investment in Saemangeum,” Lee said, "and Chairman Chung Ju-yung would be proud of it."
During his lifetime, Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung launched a large-scale reclamation project to create farmland by filling in coastal waters in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province.
Presidential chief of staff for policy Kim Yong-beom also touted, “This investment is not simply the act of building one more factory.”
“The Saemangeum project has been underway for nearly 35 years, since ground was first broken in 1991,” Kim said in a Facebook post. “After the long wait endured by the people of North Jeolla Province, we are now finally able to present a concrete direction.”
Kim said that concerned government ministries will ensure swift permitting, while also preparing without disruption the rollout of autonomous driving infrastructure, the development of a robotics parts industrial complex and the provision of a stable power supply.
“The government will also run together,” Kim said.
dagyumji@heraldcorp.com
