Gumi City Holds Investment Attraction Briefing for LIG Nex1 Partner Companies
Expectations Rise for Cheongung's Nationwide No.1 Production in Guided Missiles and Surveillance Reconnaissance Fields
Amid attention on the new missile interception weapon ‘Cheongung II’ produced at LIG Nex1’s Gumi House, benefiting from the sales diplomacy of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Gumi City held an ‘Investment Attraction Briefing for Defense Industry Companies’ on the 27th at LIG Nex1’s Daejeon House targeting LIG Nex1 partner companies.
The briefing was attended by Mayor Kim Jang-ho, LIG Nex1 Vice President Kwon Byung-hyun (Southern Region Director), Executive Director Kim Joo-woo (Central Region Director), and representatives from partner companies. The event introduced defense industry support infrastructure, support systems, and the investment environment of the 5 industrial complexes ready for immediate occupancy to 35 partner companies located in the Seoul metropolitan area, Chungcheong region, and Gyeongnam region, including Qunion.
In particular, Mayor Kim emphasized that the Gumi National Industrial Complex is the largest inland industrial complex, with unrivaled domestic capabilities in the essential electrical and electronic sectors of the defense industry, and that the guided missile and surveillance reconnaissance sectors rank first nationwide in production. He actively promoted the well-established defense-related infrastructure such as the Defense Industry One-Stop Support Center, Gumi Defense Venture Center, and Defense Technology Promotion Research Institute’s Defense Development Project Group 2 to attract defense companies.
The city was selected in April for the Gyeongbuk-Gumi Defense Innovation Cluster project and plans to invest a total of 49.9 billion KRW over five years starting in 2023 to support the growth of small and medium defense enterprises. The plan includes △establishing an Advanced Defense Industry Promotion Center ▲developing a specialized roadmap for manned-unmanned complex systems ▲building and operating a defense-specialized development research institute ▲supporting infrastructure such as defense-specialized research, testing, and demonstration ▲supporting technology development and commercialization of defense new industries ▲supporting defense startups and the entry of excellent civilian companies into the defense sector to strengthen the competitiveness of local defense companies.
Moreover, favorable conditions for defense company operations include ▲creating industry-academia-research-military-government infrastructure capable of supporting the entire defense cycle from research and development to component localization, testing, certification, and evaluation ▲activating networks such as the Gumi Defense Industry Corporate Council ▲presence of military institutions like the Defense Industry One-Stop Support Center, Gumi Defense Venture Center, and Defense Development Project Group 2 ▲proximity within 10 km straight-line distance to the Daegu-Gyeongbuk New Airport and infrastructure expansions such as the ‘Bukgumi Interchange (IC) to Gunwi Junction (JC) Highway Construction Project’ and ‘Daegu-Gyeongbuk Metropolitan Railroad’ enhancing accessibility ▲and the establishment of foundations such as local investment promotion subsidies.
Qunion, a LIG Nex1 partner company based in Daejeon (CEO Noh Sang-seop, 26.8 billion KRW in sales in 2022), plans to open a Southern House in Imsoo-dong, Gumi City (269 pyeong) on November 9. It is expected that more companies will invest in Gumi through the creation of a defense ecosystem.
Mayor Kim Jang-ho stated, “We will spare no support to strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium defense companies, using the Defense Innovation Cluster project as a catalyst,” and added, “Now is the perfect time to invest in Gumi, a city with excellent advanced industrial manufacturing infrastructure,” urging active investment from companies and institutions.
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