South Korea denied a report that Seoul and Washington had discussed naming
semiconductors as Seoul’s first strategic investment in the United States. The
The presidential office said Tuesday the claim “is not true” and gave no details on
any investment talks with Washington. Korea JoongAng had reported Seoul’s
planned announcement of a first US investment later this month was uncertain
after Washington reportedly sought Korean investment in US memory-chip
facilities; the request was said to dominate a closed-door trade meeting on Aug.
13. Attendees told the paper Seoul had initially prioritized energy for its
first major US investment and viewed investing in US memory-chip plants as
unrealistic given commitments by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix of at least
$880 billion to build chips and data centers.
