Gwangju military airport relocation efforts accelerate to make room for chip cluster

The relocation of the military airport in the southwestern city of Gwangju is accelerating after the site was chosen for a major semiconductor production cluster, officials said on Sunday.

The Gwangju military airport site was selected as part of the government’s “three megaprojects,” which focus on large-scale regional investments in semiconductors, physical artificial intelligence and AI data centers.

A committee comprising central and regional government officials is scheduled to meet later this month to designate a candidate site for the relocated airport. Muan County was named as a preliminary candidate in April.

The regional government expects the relocation site to be finalized by the end of this year. It plans to pursue the airport relocation and cluster development in parallel, with the goal of beginning semiconductor production in 2030.

Yonhap