Yoon Promises 622 Trillion Investment in Semiconductors and Emphasizes 'Expansion of Nuclear Power'

President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 15th, "Nuclear power plants are essential for fostering the semiconductor industry," adding, "If we abandon nuclear power, we must give up not only semiconductors but also advanced industries." This means that to ensure semiconductor factories operate smoothly, nuclear power plants that supply high-quality electricity stably must be expanded. This also reflects the government's intention to expand power supply capacity, including reviewing new nuclear power plants.

On the same morning, President Yoon visited Sungkyunkwan University in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, a leading domestic semiconductor workforce training institution, promising to "invest a total of 622 trillion won to create 3 million jobs," and included 'nuclear power expansion' as an additional support measure. In particular, President Yoon pointed out that "installing one semiconductor foundry line requires one 1.3GW nuclear power plant," and in the case of Samsung Electronics in Giheung, "it took more than 10 years just to establish the power transmission and delivery system."

The reason President Yoon set 'nuclear power expansion' as a condition for focused semiconductor industry development is based on a plan to strengthen the nuclear power industry to solve power supply issues across industries. The Yoon administration has been reviewing nuclear power since its inception due to the rapidly increasing power demand caused by semiconductor investments and electric vehicle expansion. The Yongin specialized complex, developed by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as the world's largest system semiconductor cluster, is expected to require more than 10GW of power. This corresponds to about 25% of the entire metropolitan area’s demand.

Moreover, the government must fulfill its 2050 carbon neutrality commitment. China has decided to build 10 additional nuclear power plants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The French government is also considering increasing the number of newly constructed nuclear power plants from the existing six to eight and further expanding construction plans.

President Yoon has also expressed his determination to expand nuclear power several times. One month after the government was launched, he visited Doosan Enerbility, a leading nuclear power industry company in Changwon, Gyeongnam, criticizing the Moon Jae-in administration’s nuclear phase-out policy head-on by saying, "If we had not done foolish things for five years and had built a stronger nuclear ecosystem, we probably would have had no competitors now." Regarding the current nuclear power industry, he described it as "being on the brink of extinction" and urged related ministries to provide proactive government support such as early leadership. President Yoon also mentioned resuming construction of Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4, stating, "We will proceed efficiently by minimizing the time as much as possible."

Government support measures for nuclear power expansion will also be in full swing this year. The working draft of the '11th Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand' (Jeon-gi-bon), which applies until 2038, is reportedly seriously considering including the construction of four or more nuclear power plants. The core issue of the Jeon-gi-bon is whether to include new nuclear power plant construction, which disappeared during the previous administration that pursued a nuclear phase-out policy. If the 11th Jeon-gi-bon includes plans for new nuclear power plant construction, it will be the first time in nine years since the 7th Jeon-gi-bon in July 2015, which included the construction plans for Shin Hanul Units 3 and 4.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.