Coupang, South Korea’s leading e-commerce giant, said on September 3 that it plans to invest 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion) to build fulfillment centers in nine regions across the country by next year and hire over 10,000 employees in the process.

The latest investment is part of Coupang’s broader strategy to expand its super-fast “rocket delivery” service to every corner of the country by 2027. The company’s renowned next-day delivery service has set the e-commerce giant apart in a fiercely competitive market.

Coupang’s new fulfillment centers in Namdaejeon and Gwanju are scheduled to be completed and will begin operations by next month. These centers are expected to create approximately 3,300 new jobs.

Earlier in March, Coupang announced that it would invest more than 3 trillion won to expand its rocket delivery nationwide by 2027. The upcoming logistics centers will be located in Gimcheon and Chilgok in North Gyeongsang Province, Jecheon in North Chungcheong Province, Busan, Icheon in Gyeonggi Province, Cheonan in South Chungcheong Province, Namdaejeon, Gwangju and Ulsan.

The fulfillment center in Cheonan, which began operations last month, is set to hire 500 employees. The Gimcheon fulfillment center, slated to break ground in October, will also hire 500 people. The Ulsan sub-hub, scheduled to start construction in October, plans to hire 400 employees. A sub-hub is a logistics facility that sends goods to delivery camps.

The Chilgok sub-hub, which has already hired 400 employees, will begin operations later this year. The Jecheon fulfillment center, which aims to hire 500 employees, plans to start construction in the first half of next year. The fulfillment centers in Busan’s Gangseo District and Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, began construction in the second quarter and plan to hire 3,000 and 1,500 employees, respectively.

In total, Coupang’s new logistics investments are projected to create around 10,000 new jobs. Excluding Seoul, the company expects to increase regional employment by more than 65,000 positions. Including logistics and delivery subsidiaries, Coupang’s total direct employment is expected to rise to around 80,000, meaning that over 80% of its workforce will be based outside the capital.

Coupang anticipates that this expansion will help reverse the trend of young Koreans moving to work in Seoul, attracting them back to regional areas. As of the first half of last year, more than 20,000 of Coupang’s employees were aged 19 to 34, and roughly 48% of logistics and delivery workers were women.

Coupang has already invested 6.2 trillion won in building its logistics network, which now includes over 100 facilities in 30 regions across the country. The company has expanded its so-called “Coupang Zone,” areas where Rocket Delivery is available, to 182 out of the country’s 260 cities, counties, and districts, covering 70% of the population.