# Defense ministry vows push for temporary relocation of Gwangju air base operations > Source: > Published: 2026-08-11 01:42:03+00:00 The defense ministry vowed Tuesday to actively push for the temporary relocation of Air Force operations from an air base in the southwestern city of Gwangju to help speed up a key chip cluster project in the broader surrounding region. Its pledge reinforces the government's broader push to build a vast semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) cluster in the country's southwestern and central regions, a multibillion-dollar project joined by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix. The Gwangju air base, home to the Air Force's 1st Fighter Wing, has been picked as the site for the envisioned chip cluster. The government wants to relocate the air base to the nearby county of Muan but has faced pushback from the municipal government and residents. At a public-private meeting on the mega chip cluster project Monday, President Lee Jae Myung instructed the defense ministry to temporarily relocate Gwangju military airport operations to another site to expedite the project. "We will actively cooperate with the government's policy to strengthen the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry and