The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Wednesday it would host about 40 executives from construction firms and trading houses on Thursday at a briefing to showcase the opportunities and gauge each company's appetite for taking part.
The U.S. Department of Energy first floated the proposal in January, during a visit to Washington by Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yun-duk.
One project, a lithium and boron plant in Nevada, has since taken concrete shape, with First Vice Minister Kim Yi-tak signing a memorandum of understanding on participation during a July trip to the United States.
The ministry said it would present about 10 projects proposed by Washington through high-level talks between the two governments. All are large-scale, long-running ventures drawing in a mix of stakeholders under an investment-development model.
Rather than a central government awarding contracts to firms, the arrangement sees the two states jointly source projects and match companies to them — a novel form of government-to-government cooperation, the ministry said.
The proposals include a $1.9 billion potassium chloride plant in Michigan and a $2 billion compressed-air energy storage facility in California.
Seoul plans to link interested firms with lead developers, financial institutions and public agencies, marshalling a "Team Korea" to press their case abroad.
In June, the ministry and its partners, alongside Samsung Heavy Industries, clinched a 4 trillion won ($2.89 billion) floating LNG plant project in Louisiana under the same banner.
"Swiftly connecting cooperative projects unearthed through inter-governmental diplomacy to our companies is the key to translating our support missions into visible results," said Kim Seok-ki, director general for construction policy at the ministry, pledging to weave in strategic financing to sharpen firms' chances of winning orders.
AJP Takeaways
• The U.S. has invited South Korean firms to join about 10 energy infrastructure and fertilizer projects on American soil, South Korea's transport ministry said on August 26, 2026.
• The projects, sourced government-to-government rather than through tenders, include a $1.9 billion potassium chloride plant in Michigan and a $2 billion compressed-air energy storage facility in California.
• A Nevada lithium-boron plant reached a memorandum of understanding in July 2026, the first of the projects to do so.
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