Mass production at Japan's Kumamoto plant began at the end of 2024 as a result of an infrastructure race that developed the site, power, industrial water and roads on the same timetable. South Korea and China, by contrast, have markedly different infrastructure timelines. South Korea takes about 13 years to build out its transmission grid, while China creates a speed advantage by securing power and industrial water first and then building the fab.
Starting with the November 2021 official announcement of construction of a Kumamoto plant after Taiwan's TSMC announced plans to build a semiconductor plant in Japan, the infrastructure race that put the site, power, industrial water and roads on the same timetable resulted in mass production actually beginning at the end of 2024.
Against the backdrop of South Korea's lengthy infrastructure timetable, President Lee Jae-myung (李在明) called for the southwestern semiconductor cluster to be developed at a speed "no slower than Kumamoto." It has been pointed out that although a fab can be built in around 3 years, the transmission grid for a large industrial complex takes an average of about 13 years from planning to completion.
China has adopted a speed-focused approach of securing core infrastructure, including the power grid and industrial-water pipelines, before building fabs. CXMT's Hefei Fab A began construction in March 2017, completed its building in January of the following year, and reached completion 10 months after construction began.
In South Korea, SK hynix's investment plan for the Yongin cluster was released in February 2019. Fab construction was supposed to begin after site preparation was completed, but actual construction began in February 2025, with the cleanroom scheduled to open in February 2027.
The Yongin Semiconductor Cluster applied for permits for its industrial-water supply facilities in May 2021, but the city with jurisdiction over the water intake point objected, and consultations were not concluded until November 2022. The transmission-grid timetable is lengthy, and 20 of the 54 major transmission and substation projects are reportedly delayed.
China is said to be completing large-scale grids, including ultra-high-voltage direct-current transmission, in 2 to 3 years. Japan has also pursued an infrastructure race by coordinating other infrastructure with the Kumamoto plant.
A professor at Sungkyunkwan University pointed out that the key to CXMT and YMTC's fab expansions is the advance construction of substations and industrial-water pipelines, which are kept on standby.