SEOUL, July 10 (AJP) -The United States is ratcheting up pressure on South Korea's memory chipmakers to expand manufacturing in the United States after Seoul unveiled nearly 1 quadrillion won ($650 billion) in new domestic semiconductor investment plan last week.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday he wants both Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to build memory chip production facilities on U.S. soil. The two do not run memory operations in the U.S.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the first concrete pour for Micron Technology's new fabrication plant in Clay, New York, Lutnick said, ""Micron may not like it, but I want to bring competitors Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to the United States and have them build chip plants here."
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix last week announced government-backed investment plans approaching 1 quadrillion won over the next decade to expand South Korea's semiconductor industry beyond the Seoul metropolitan area into the southwestern Honam region.
The plans form the centerpiece of President Lee Jae Myung's industrial strategy to create a second semiconductor cluster alongside the existing Yongin-Pyeongtaek hub and reinforce South Korea's position as the world's leading AI memory producer.
The Trump administration has pledged to raise America's share of global semiconductor production to 40 percent by encouraging overseas manufacturers to devote more capacity to the U.S. through subsidies, tax incentives and trade policy.
Micron on Thursday raised its planned U.S. investment to more than $250 billion through 2035, up from the $200 billion announced last year, saying it aims to produce 40 percent of its DRAM output domestically. The company also unveiled an additional $3 billion investment to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, including support for silicon wafer supplier GlobalWafers in Texas.
The announcement comes as it is set to compete with its bigger Korean chip rival on the Wall Street.
SK hynix prepares for its landmark Nasdaq listing. The Korean memory leader priced its American depositary receipts at $149 each, raising about $26.5 billion in what is expected to become the largest U.S. equity offering ever by a foreign company.
Samsung operates a foundry in Austin, Texas, and is building a $44 billion an advanced foundry campus in Taylor, Texas, which is expected to begin risk production later this year before ramping up mass production.
The facility will manufacture leading-edge logic chips rather than DRAM or NAND memory.
SK hynix is building a $3.87 billion advanced AI memory packaging and research facility in West Lafayette, Indiana. Scheduled to begin mass production in 2028, the plant will package next-generation HBM chips for AI accelerators but will not fabricate memory wafers.
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