Hyundai Motor Group to Invest 9 Trillion Won Over Five Years to Build Future Industry Cluster in Saemangeum

Hyundai Motor Group has announced a plan to invest about 9 trillion won over the next five years in new future businesses in North Jeolla Province.
The group plans to build an AI data center, a robot manufacturing facility, and large-scale hydrogen-related installations in Saemangeum, fostering a future industrial cluster centered on AI, hydrogen, and robotics. As Hyundai Motor Group has now disclosed the specific scale of its investment in Saemangeum, its broader 125 trillion won domestic investment plan is expected to move into full gear.
Rep. Ahn Ho-young, Chair of the National Assembly Committee on Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor, said on the 25th that Hyundai Motor Company delivered this plan during a series of meetings held at the National Assembly on the 24th with Hyundai and officials from global advanced agricultural companies.
During the meeting, Hyundai Motor Company presented a concrete figure of around 9 trillion won and outlined its policy to push ahead with investments in new future businesses.
In particular, Ahn Ho-young explained that the company proposed a strategy to develop Saemangeum into a future industrial cluster based on AI, hydrogen, and robotics by building an AI data center, creating a robot manufacturing facility, and constructing a large-scale water electrolysis-based green hydrogen production facility.
Hyundai Motor Company also presented a vision to grow North Jeolla Province into a hub for national strategic industries. It discussed securing power infrastructure based on renewable energy and laid out roadmaps for advancing autonomous driving, robotics, and smart factory technologies using a high-performance AI data center.
Ahn Ho-young stressed, "This investment is a crucial opportunity for North Jeolla Province to emerge as a key pillar of the country's national strategic industries," adding, "In cooperation with the central and local governments, we will do our utmost to provide all necessary support in areas such as regulations, permits, and power infrastructure so that the investment can proceed without setbacks."
Hyundai Motor Group's latest investment is part of the domestic investment plan the group announced last year.
In November last year, the group pledged to invest more than 125 trillion won in Korea over the next five years, of which 50.5 trillion won will go into future business areas such as AI, Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), electrification, robotics, and hydrogen. The Saemangeum project will be carried out as part of that plan.
Saemangeum, with a site area 140 times the size of Yeouido and abundant sunshine that makes power generation relatively easy, is also regarded as a suitable location for AI data centers, which require massive amounts of electricity.
An industry official commented, "If the Saemangeum investment proceeds properly and the related facilities are actually built, Hyundai Motor Group will be able to foster the southwest region as a new base for the group, following Ulsan Metropolitan City, Gwangju Metropolitan City, and Gyeonggi Province." The official added, "If Hyundai Motor Group directly pushes ahead with the investment and turns development into reality, it will not only become the largest corporate attraction case since Saemangeum development began, but also serve as a turning point that opens up new investment opportunities in Saemangeum, which had been stalled."
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group has reportedly proposed building hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure in Canada to support a Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP) contract worth up to 60 trillion won. According to local media, Glenn Copeland, head of Hanwha Ocean’s Canadian subsidiary, said that Hyundai Motor Group recently suggested to visiting Canadian officials an initial plan to establish three to four network corridors that could support rail or large freight trucks using facilities based on hydrogen fuel cells.
hjkim01@fnnews.com Kim Hak-jae, Kim Kyung-min Reporter