[Interview with GIST President Lim Ki-chul]
Gwangju can construct an unbiased ecosystem with much less threat of struggle and earthquake
Cooperation community with abroad semiconductor corporations
No downside in producing semiconductor expertise within the southwestern area
![Lim Ki-chul, president of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), explains the conditions for the success of the semiconductor megaproject in the southwest region in an interview with Mail Business. [Picture = GIST]](https://wimg.mk.co.kr/news/cms/202607/12/news-p.v1.20260712.f9164b22f1da4c1fb86325d7919512a4_P1.jpg)
“The global semiconductor industry has been paying attention to Gwangju for a long time. The network established by Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) with global semiconductor companies is evidence.”
Throughout the interview with Maekyung, GIST President Lim Ki-chul emphasised that the Gwangju semiconductor fab is a “golden opportunity.” It is argued that the southwestern semiconductor cluster, which was lately determined by the federal government, can be a new progress engine not solely for Gwangju, but in addition for your entire Korean and semiconductor industry.
Lim is a coverage skilled who has served because the presidential secretary for science and know-how and the director of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation (KISTEP). “Gwangju is the perfect place for semiconductor fabs to come in, and there is no worry because universities in the southwestern region, centered on GIST, have already prepared for the human resources issue,” he careworn.
President Lim, who has been making ready to kind a semiconductor ecosystem since his inauguration in 2023, has established an ecosystem of cooperation with global semiconductor corporations akin to Nvidia, Arm, and National Instruments. The corporations have determined to practice semiconductor skills by working academic packages at GIST or offering costly tools for free.
It was long earlier than the federal government introduced that it could set up a semiconductor cluster within the southwestern area that GIST started discussing with them. “Considering the location and Korea’s semiconductor ecosystem, it means that the overseas semiconductor industry was already paying attention to Gwangju,” President Lim stated. “The government’s announcement of the mega project has enabled Korea’s balanced regional development and semiconductor ecosystem to take off.”
2,400 skills can be produced in 5 years
10 years to deal with AI semiconductors
![Lim Ki-chul, president of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), explains the conditions for the success of the semiconductor megaproject in the southwest region in an interview with Mail Business. [Picture = GIST]](https://wimg.mk.co.kr/news/cms/202607/12/news-p.v1.20260712.9fe0495e83774b48be1bae3a80c90af8_P1.jpg)
For the explanation that Gwangju is appropriate as a semiconductor location, President Lim noticed Honam as the perfect place to disperse the topography of the semiconductor industry. Semiconductor factories that deal with ultra-precision processes are delicate to earthquakes, however the southwest area has much less threat of earthquakes than the southeast area. The semiconductor course of requires a number of chemical compounds, and the required uncooked supplies could be provided from Yeosu Chemical Industrial Complex.
Another benefit is that there are lots of cars and associated components factories within the southwest area, that are main customers of AI semiconductors. President Lim stated, “The southwestern region is a complete ecosystem that can be used from semiconductor source research to demonstration.”
The authorities expects that if a semiconductor fab is created in Gwangju, associated secondary corporations and materials components and tools corporations will are available collectively. GIST is planning to turn out to be a focus for innovation that connects expertise, analysis, and industry whereas producing related expertise. The AI University, which was launched on the first, was additionally the one one among the many Institute of Science and Technology to embody the Department of Semiconductor Engineering.
President Lim stated, “There are about 2,400 people who can be produced in the semiconductor field for five years, including the Department of Semiconductor Engineering, New Material Engineering, and Physics. Usually, about 10% of Ph.D.-level personnel in semiconductor factories are available, but it is sufficient to be nurtured by GIST.” In addition to GIST, there are Korea Energy Technology and Chonnam National University within the southwestern area, so it isn’t unreasonable to provide expertise.
In specific, GIST plans to deal with the AI semiconductor sector. Currently, the AI Semiconductor Research Institute, a nationwide AI semiconductor analysis platform, is being established. The objective is to mix expertise coaching, R&D, industry-academia cooperation, and technical commercialization centered on the AI Semiconductor Research Institute.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix determined to construct a reminiscence fab, however the purpose why they’re specializing in AI semiconductors is as a result of they predict that the industry can be reorganized sooner or later. “Unlike companies and research institutes that make short-term prospects, universities should look forward to more than 10 years,” he stated. “We will prepare various convergence studies such as next-generation materials, advanced packaging, and optical and electronic convergence technologies for future industrial hegemony.”
President Lim careworn that Gwangju’s semiconductor fab ought to be profitable for Korea’s fashionable historical past. According to the National Data Agency, Gwangju’s gross regional home product is the bottom after Sejong and Jeju.
President Lim stated, “Now that Gwangju and Jeollanam-do are integrated, the regional economy must revive properly to resolve the sense of alienation felt by Honam and enable national integration in the long run. Regardless of the industrial meaning, the semiconductor megaproject in the southwestern region must succeed.”
![Semiconductor Talent Plan envisioned by GIST. President Lim emphasized that GIST can raise 10 percent of doctoral-level manpower, and there are other universities such as Chonnam National University, so there is no problem in supplying talent. [GIST]](https://wimg.mk.co.kr/news/cms/202607/12/news-p.v1.20260712.7365e2b1ac414296997a4751cf2c2a99_P1.png)
[Gwangju reporter Choi Won-seok]