US, South Korea in Chip Investment Talks as Seoul Plans 800 Trillion Won for Four Fabs
South Korea and the United States are negotiating over the designation of Seoul's top US investment project after Washington asked that memory chip fabs planned for Korea be included. Seoul had originally designated a Texas natural gas combined-cycle power plant as its top US investment, then announced Samsung and SK Hynix would invest about 800 trillion won to build four memory chip wafer fabs in the Honam region. Korea's industry ministry denied US pressure, saying details remain under negotiation.
After South Korea announced its domestic semiconductor investment plan, negotiations between Seoul and Washington over the designation of Korea's top US investment project shifted. The Korean government had originally planned to designate a natural gas combined-cycle power plant in Texas as its top US investment project, and subsequently announced that Samsung and SK Hynix would invest about 800 trillion won to build four memory chip wafer fabs in the Honam region.
Following the announcement of the domestic investment plan, the US side made a new request, hoping to include the construction of memory chip fabs in Korea within the scope of Korea's top US investment project. The matter was included in discussions at a closed-door Blue House trade meeting.
In response to related reports, Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy publicly stated that there was no pressure from the US side, adding only that certain details of the project remain to be negotiated. The report was based on information from anonymous ruling party insiders and was not drawn from official public materials.
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