Amazon Web Service CEO Matt Garman on Oct. 29 gives a speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit held at Gyeongju Arts Center in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. (Yonhap News)
By Lee Jihae
Seven global corporations including Amazon Web Service (AWS) of the U.S. have pledged to invest USD 9 billion (KRW 13 trillion) in Korea over the next five years.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources on Oct. 29 said the announcements were made at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit at Gyeongju Arts Center in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, by AWS, Renault, Amkor Technology, Corning, Air Liquide, Siemens Healthineers and Umicore.
The investment will come through direct and indirect methods including foreign direct investment of USD 660 million (KRW 950 billion) injected over the short term.
The companies called Korea a "core hub" of their global project strategies and said their investments will expand the country's production capacity and speed up technological innovation.
The target sectors are those promoted by the government such as artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, semiconductor packaging, cars, displays, medical devices and batteries.
AWS CEO Matt Garman announced investment in Korea of over USD 5 billion by 2031 to expand the company's cloud infrastructure.
Renault Korea CEO Nicolas Paris added that based on strong confidence in Korea's future mobility ecosystem, his company will invest to transform its production lines into plants for new electric vehicles.
Siemens Healthineers CEO Vy Tran pledged to lease 9,917 square m of land at Pohang Technopark to launch a production facility for core components of cardiac ultrasound medical devices and create over 400 jobs.
Other large-scale investments will go to core materials, components and equipment. Amkor Technology will expand its semiconductor back-end processing facilities; Corning will invest in plants for cutting-edge mobile device materials; Umicore will expand its plant for cathode materials for use in secondary batteries; and Air Liquide will enlarge its special gas factory for semiconductors and facility for state-of-the-art materials for process applications.
jihlee08@korea.kr