South Korea has revealed it is in discussions regarding investment in chips in the United States, following signals from the US that it is preparing to impose tariffs on semiconductor imports to accelerate the attraction of manufacturing bases to the country.
On September 4, 2026, at 11:24 AM, Reuters reported that South Korea and the United States were discussing semiconductor investment in the US as part of broader bilateral talks amid concerns that the US government's considered tariffs on chips could impact South Korean companies' investment.
A South Korean presidential official told reporters on Friday, when asked whether the planned tariffs on semiconductor imports, hinted at by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, would affect investment negotiations between the two countries.
Officials stated that South Korea and the United States are discussing a wide range of issues, some of which impact each other. Semiconductors are one of the topics related to investment currently under negotiation.
South Korea is striving to prevent issues from becoming obstacles to each other amid negotiations covering trade, investment, and security.
This move comes after Lutnick revealed this week that the U.S. is planning targeted and carefully considered tariffs on semiconductor imports, signaling that companies seeking access to the U.S. market may need to increase domestic manufacturing capacity.
Lutnick stated that if foreign companies do not build factories in the United States, they should expect to pay taxes to access the world's largest market, reflecting the U.S. government's efforts to push major chip manufacturers to move or increase production capacity to the U.S.
Previously, the presidents of South Korea and the United States reached an agreement last year, which included a plan for South Korean investment in U.S. manufacturing worth $350,000 billion.
Under the agreement, South Korean chip manufacturers would receive tariffs from the United States that are no less stringent than the terms offered by the United States to other competing countries with equal or greater volumes of chip trade with the US.
South Korea is considered one of the world's most important semiconductor industrial hubs and is home to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, major global manufacturers of memory chips.
Demand for chips from both companies has increased dramatically recently, as US technology companies accelerate investment in building artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, which requires large quantities of high-performance memory chips.
However, discussions between Seoul and Washington were not limited to trade and semiconductors. South Korean officials stated that national security negotiations between the two countries had not made progress, particularly regarding South Korea's plan to build its own nuclear-powered submarines as part of an agreement reached last year.
The latest discussions therefore come at a time when South Korea is trying to protect the interests of its chip industry, one of the pillars of its economy, while simultaneously dealing with pressure from US policies that want to bring more semiconductor production domestically.
Reference: www.reuters.com
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