"Like Kumamoto TSMC," Yongin City Makes All-Out Effort to Shorten SK Hynix Permitting Process

Architectural Permit TF Kickoff Meeting: "Complete Architectural Permits Within the Year"
Total Floor Area 3.67 Million ㎡... "One-Stop Processing Through Prior Coordination with SK"

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province is focusing its efforts on granting building permits for SK Hynix's semiconductor production line (Fab) in Yongin. Benchmarking Japan's case of completing the TSMC Kumamoto plant in 22 months, the city plans to provide maximum support to enable the early groundbreaking of SK Hynix's fab.

On the 28th, Yongin City announced on the 29th that it held a "Building Permit Task Force (TF) Kickoff Meeting" in the annex conference room of the city hall to provide one-stop support for the building permit process of SK Hynix's first fab within the 'Yongin Semiconductor Cluster' in Wonsam-myeon, Cheoin-gu.

At the kickoff meeting of the 'Building Permit TF' for the early start of semiconductor production lines within SK Hynix's Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, participants are discussing key issues.
[Photo by Yongin City]

Kim Chang-ho, Director of the Housing Bureau of Yongin City and head of the TF, said at the meeting, "The first fab alone requires about one year for permits according to the business operator's plan, but with the existing permit schedule, it could take more than twice as long. Since Japan completed the TSMC Kumamoto plant, initially expected to take five years, in just 22 months, we will also provide maximum support to build the fab quickly."

In fact, SK Hynix's first fab in Yongin is so large that it is difficult to shorten the permit schedule using the conventional method. The fab itself covers 1.6 million square meters, and when combined with ▲ production support facilities (9 buildings, 790,000㎡) ▲ offices (2 buildings, 710,000㎡) ▲ win-win cooperation center (370,000㎡) ▲ dormitories (200,000㎡), the total floor area reaches 3.67 million square meters. This is more than twice the combined area of Incheon International Airport Terminals 1 and 2.

SK Hynix plans to start construction of the first fab in March next year and operate it by 2027. According to the plan, the building permit must be completed within this year. Considering that the business operator is scheduled to apply for the building permit in October, the city judges that it is difficult to complete the permit within two months. This is because various evaluations and reviews such as building safety impact assessment, underground safety assessment, landscape review, and special structure safety review must be conducted.

A bird's-eye view of the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster located in Wonsam-myeon, Cheoin-gu, Yongin. The first phase production line of SK Hynix, scheduled to begin construction in March next year, will have a total floor area of 3.67 million square meters, including support facilities. [Image source=Yongin City]

Therefore, the city plans to communicate with the business operator in advance before the building permit application to review whether the permit criteria are met and any necessary supplements. At the meeting, SK Hynix explained the site overview, permit schedule, and requests, and the city discussed support measures. Starting with this meeting, the city will hold regular monthly meetings to find solutions to the operator's difficulties and visit external consultation agencies such as fire stations and police stations to request cooperation.

Separately, to prevent disruptions in the commuting of a large workforce due to the large-scale construction, the city will secure access roads, parking lots, and material storage yards in advance and discuss issues such as shuttle bus operations.

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