멈춰 선 반도체 엔진과 호남의 꿈: 대한민국 산업 지도가 흔들린다 > K-wave Trends

The current refusal to transport ready-mixed concrete, which has hit the semiconductor field in the metropolitan area, is causing a serious bottleneck that is blocking the bloodstream of the national economy beyond a simple wage conflict between labor and management. As the strike by the National Ready-Mixed Concrete Workers' Union (Jeonunryeon) continued for four days, the country's largest construction sites, including Samsung Electronics' Pyeongtaek Campus and SK Hynix's Yongin Cluster, faced a series of suspensions of pouring. Due to the nature of ready-mix concrete as a time-sensitive material that must be poured immediately after production, any stoppage in transportation directly leads to paralysis of the entire process. In particular, the situation is heading toward an extreme confrontation that foreshadows a legal dispute, as the union physically blocks vehicles directly managed by the ready-mix concrete manufacturer that were about to be deployed to the site. Due to the nature of semiconductor facility construction that follows a tight schedule, this disruption in the supply of ready-mixed concrete is expected to cause a domino delay in subsequent processes, causing huge economic losses.

The origin of this situation is the unresolved difference of opinion between labor and management over the increase in transportation prices. Despite a tentative agreement on a 5% increase through mediation by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the agreement was overturned due to overwhelming opposition during the vote by union members, and the negotiations returned to square one. The manufacturer expressed strong regret over the union's destruction of the officially reached agreement, and took a hardline approach of regional response instead of future integrated negotiations. There is a sense of crisis in some parts of the industry that if this strike is prolonged, the very foundation of semiconductor production, a key national industry, may be shaken. The government is also aware of the seriousness of the situation and is reviewing emergency response measures, such as allowing the installation of batch plants (B/P) on site. However, unless the union's hard-line stance changes, the clock at construction sites is expected to stop for the time being.

Meanwhile, while the metropolitan area is suffering from conflicts over ready-mix concrete, the political world and the local community are strongly advocating for the diversification of semiconductor production bases and are charting a new course. In particular, Gwangju Metropolitan City and the Jeonnam region have virtually confirmed the attraction of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor back-end process (packaging) factory, centered on the high-tech District 3, and are planning to build a large-scale industrial complex encompassing Jangseong based on this. Local political circles, such as the Progressive Party and the Democratic Party of Korea, emphasize that the relocation of semiconductor factories to Honam should be considered a national task in order to break down unipolarism in the metropolitan area and prevent the disappearance of the region. They assert that Honam's abundant renewable energy and water resources are the optimal conditions to help global companies achieve RE100, and expect that this investment will go beyond the simple establishment of a factory and serve as a catalyst for balanced national development.

The movements of the Jeonnam and Gwangju regions to attract the semiconductor industry show a markedly different aspect from the past in terms of the specificity of infrastructure construction. What is noteworthy is that practical discussions involving the government and companies, such as plans to secure large-scale water supply, use of military land, and review of state-owned land, are already on the surface. In particular, as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) increases rapidly due to the rapid growth of the AI ​​industry, industry analysis that it is difficult to handle mid- to long-term production capacity with existing metropolitan area bases alone is gaining ground. With personnel from Samsung Electronics being recruited as the core of regional strategic planning, and related companies such as Amkor Technology making large-scale investments, Honam has now emerged as a strong candidate for a ‘semiconductor belt’ in name and reality. The companies' local investment plans, which are expected to be announced at the end of this month, will be an important turning point that will determine the future of Korea's semiconductor industry and the fate of the local economy.