Rock and Hard Place
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won are expected to visit the United States next month to accompany President Yoon Seok-yul during the KORUS summit scheduled for April 26.
This month, Lee visited China after nearly three years to attend the 2023 China Development Forum in Beijing from March 25 to 27. Chey also visited China to attend the Boao Forum. The former met with State Council Premier Li Qiang and the latter is also likely to do so.
These schedules are because the semiconductor industry of South Korea is stuck between the United States and China. U.S. policies in the industry are forcing Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to choose between the United States and China, that is, whether to make new investments in the United States with subsidies from the U.S. government or to expand based on their existing large-scale facilities in China.
It was recently announced that U.S. government-subsidized semiconductor companies are prohibited from increasing their semiconductor production capacity in China by 5 percent or more over the next 10 years. The Joe Biden administration initiated export control in October last year in order to block semiconductor equipment supply to China. The control came with a one-year grace period for South Korea and the period will end at the end of September.