Gyeongbuk Province Battery Industry Ecosystem Development

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office building. (Photo by Gyeongbuk Province)

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Ju Cheol-in] Gyeongsangbuk-do announced on the 23rd that it plans to apply for a preliminary feasibility study in the first half of the year for the next-generation battery park project based on an accelerator to expand the achievements of the battery regulatory free zone designation.

Gyeongbuk Province plans to create a battery industry ecosystem by establishing a battery material analysis platform using the Pohang Light Source Accelerator and building research and development infrastructure.

Efforts are also being made to attract corporate investment. The province stated that after signing a 100 billion KRW investment agreement with GS Construction on the 9th for the Pohang Battery Regulatory Free Zone, inquiries from companies about participating in the free zone project have been flooding in.

Last year, large-scale new investments were made by POSCO Chemical (250 billion KRW in Pohang) and LG Chem (500 billion KRW in Gumi), among others.

The province is planning "Pohang Port Jobs," which involves win-win cooperation between large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises in the battery regulatory free zone. This will be concretized in the second half of the year.

Following the already agreed Gumi-type jobs, the province official explained that they are creating a second Gyeongbuk-type win-win cooperation model.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, said, "We will foster the battery industry ecosystem and make it a core industry that drives the national economy in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution."