According to Yonhap, South Korea's government plans to enact a special law this year to designate special zones for artificial intelligence-related investment projects, as President Lee Jae Myung's administration moves to speed up its three megaprojects. Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said the law would streamline licensing, approvals and environmental impact reviews, while also enabling faster provision of power, water and worker support infrastructure such as transport, housing and education.

Lee urged officials to use deregulation and complete all necessary administrative steps at once so the projects can be implemented as quickly as possible. He also called for the functions of a military airport in Gwangju to be moved to temporary facilities by 2028 so the site can be converted into a semiconductor production hub.

The three megaprojects, announced in late June, cover a semiconductor cluster, physical AI and AI data centers in regional areas. Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. have pledged a combined 800 trillion won ($564.9 billion) for the chip cluster project alone, which also includes investments in Chungcheong Province and the southeastern Yeongnam region. Kang said the government will begin implementing the Chungcheong and Yeongnam projects this year, worth 246 trillion won and 107 trillion won, respectively.