Can the Honam Cluster Change the Semiconductor Production Concentrated in the Seoul Metropolitan Area?

According to an analysis by the Bank of Korea, the share of semiconductor production in the Seoul metropolitan area, where Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plants are concentrated, rose to 82.3% in 2024, up 7.8 percentage points from 10 years earlier. The share outside the metropolitan area, excluding the Chungcheong region, fell sharply, indicating that the regional concentration has become even more pronounced. In the overall manufacturing sector, including semiconductors, the metropolitan area's share also increased from 29.4% to 33.2% over the same period. The analysis suggests that as suppliers, materials, parts, and equipment companies clustered around large corporate factories, a metropolitancentered industrial ecosystem became entrenched. However, some 전망 are also emerging that the Honam region semiconductor cluster, being promoted as one of the government's three major megaprojects, could become a new variable. Since Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have announced plans to build largescale fabs in the Honam region, attention is focused on whether the landscape of domestic semiconductor production will change depending on future investment and supply chain expansion.