Korea's Silicon Valley: Pangyo Techno Valley

The Korean government is working to develop a "Korean Silicon Valley" in Pangyo, a satellite city of Seoul in the highly-populous Gyeonggi Province. Officials say this growing bedroom community will become Korea's information technology and semiconductor industry hub.

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Plans for the PanGyo Techno Valley, also referred to as the "Pangyo Cluster", include a combination of government,corporate and research facilities related to the semiconductor industry.

So far the plan seems to be working. Several tech giants, like SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics' semiconductor arm, have already moved in. State-run research institutes, like the Korean Electronics Technology Institute SoC Platform Research Center and the Electronics and the Telecommunications Research Institute, made Pangyo their home in June. Top universities, including Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul National University and Kyung Hee University, also have campuses in the cluster.

The cluster's development history begins in December of 2001, when the government designated the Seongnam-Pangyo area as a new land development district. One of the first major companies to move into the area was NHN, operator of the Naver web portal, which has about 70% search market share in Korea. The company moved its headquarters from Seoul's tech-heavy Tehran Street to Bundang in 2005 and has continued to build in the area.

A central component of the cluster, the Pangyo Techno Valley Global R&D Center, broke ground in March last year.

An Industry-Academia-Research Institute R&D Center is in the works as well. As one might guess from the name, the building's aim is to strengthen connections between industry and academia and to promote joint research. It will also have education and training functions.

Check out the video clip below, which introduces this up-and-coming tech center.

For more photos and information, you can check out Pangyo Techno Valley's e-brochure.

by Donna Choi

Born and raised in the States, I came to Seoul in 2009 and have loved living and working in such a high-tech and connected city ever since. I enjoy collecting unique, cute gadgets/items (I have a bread-scented smartphone case!) and traveling around Korea. My personal mission while living in Korea: Try every type of Korean food known to exist.

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