"The outcome will depend on who moves faster," Lee said during a public-private review meeting on the projects at the presidential office. "The government must remove every foreseeable obstacle so companies can focus solely on investment and production. Administrative delays must never hold back investment."
The remarks came a week after Lee unveiled an unprecedented state-led industrial strategy centered on semiconductors, Physical AI and AI data centers, backed by more than 800 trillion won ($520 billion) to create a second chip cluster in Honam region by Samsung Electronics and SK Group.
The blueprint aims to transform South Korea from one of the world's largest memory-chip producers into a fully integrated artificial intelligence powerhouse.
At the heart of the plan is the construction of a second semiconductor manufacturing belt spanning the country's southwestern Honam region, complementing the existing "K-Chip Belt" clustered around Gyeonggi Province.
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix plan to build four advanced fabrication plants there, while additional semiconductor packaging facilities will be developed in the central Chungcheong region and supply-chain manufacturing bases expanded across the southeastern Yeongnam region.
The nationwide strategy reflects the Lee administration's effort to spread high-tech investment beyond the Seoul metropolitan area while strengthening South Korea's competitiveness in an increasingly geopolitical race for AI infrastructure.
Monday's meeting shifted the focus from announcing investment to ensuring it can be delivered.
Lee instructed ministries to process permits simultaneously rather than sequentially, accelerate land acquisition, simplify environmental reviews where legally possible and secure electricity and water infrastructure before other administrative procedures are completed.
He also confirmed that the government will launch a Special Committee on Semiconductor Competitiveness when the Semiconductor Special Act takes effect in August, bringing together the presidential office, central ministries and local governments to oversee execution.
The president repeatedly cited delays surrounding the Yongin semiconductor cluster as an example of what his administration intends to avoid.
Although SK hynix's Yongin industrial complex has already begun construction, the project required six years from site designation to groundbreaking after prolonged disputes over land compensation and environmental approvals.
Samsung Electronics' neighboring national industrial complex is still undergoing land acquisition while key utility plans remain unresolved.
"The Yongin complex was considered fast, but by my standards it wasn't fast at all," Lee said, urging officials to pursue parallel administrative procedures and prevent compensation disputes from slowing future projects.
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