Six South Korean-based companies either opened or expanded their operations in Fairfax County in October, according to figures from the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority.
The additions, which brought the total number of Korean-headquartered companies in the county to more than 50, point to Fairfax’s growing popularity as a prime location for entry into the U.S. market.
“Fairfax County is the perfect environment,” said John Yang, who heads up the Fairfax County office of Waawoo Technologies, a Seoul-based technology firm that just expanded its operations in Fairfax. “It’s close to Washington, D.C. … It’s a huge market, with a lot of federal contractors and a lot of corporations (working with) the federal government.”
Fairfax has led the pack in the past five years in recruiting Korean-based companies to the Washington region. The county is home to the Korea Business Development Center, which is one of only four business incubators in the U.S. sponsored by the South Korean government. The other three are in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Last year the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority opened a marketing office in Seoul to focus on recruitment. The efforts have paid off.
Today Korean companies outpace all other foreign companies in Fairfax, including Great Britain and Canada. In 2000, the county only had five Korean companies within its borders. Regionwide, the majority of Korean companies are located in Fairfax, according to the Greater Washington Initiative.
Proximity to Dulles International Airport and the fact that Fairfax is home to a large Korean-American population are two reasons the county has attracted companies over other Washington-area counties.
“There’s the soft landing aspect in Fairfax County,” said David Callahan, senior advisor for the Korean Business Development Center in Fairfax. “There’s an infrastructure in place to make it more comfortable for them and their families.”
Fairfax’s strong focus on the technology sector has also particularly attracted Korean IT and telecommunications companies.
“In the past there wasn’t an appreciation for how dynamic this market is in the information technology market,” Callahan said. “I think there’s a growing appreciation and it’s going to attract more companies here in the future.”
Although most of the Korean companies in Fairfax only have a few people in their offices, the hope is as the companies grow, so will the employment base.
For example, Waawoo Technologies, which has several hundred employees in Seoul, plans to eventually relocate to Fairfax, said Yang.
“We’re trying to bring the headquarters to Fairfax,” Yang said. “If you want to make it a global company, sooner or later we’ll have to bring our headquarters here.”
