Howard Lutnick, the U.S. commerce secretary, on the 15th (local time) called Korea Zinc's decision to build a large-scale smelter in Tennessee "a big win for America."
The Minister said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) that "President Trump has signed a transformational critical minerals deal that strengthens our national security, rebuilds our industrial base, and ends reliance on foreign supply chains," and stated accordingly.
He went on, "Today, we announced with Korea Zinc a major investment to build in Tennessee a state-of-the-art critical minerals smelter and processing facility that will produce 540,000 tons (t) of essential materials annually here in the United States," adding that the minerals will power the "most important technologies" of the future, from defense systems, semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), Quantum Computing, automobiles, and data centers to advanced manufacturing.
He explained, "Gallium, germanium, indium, antimony, copper, silver, gold, zinc, and more will all be produced on U.S. soil to support everything from fighter jets and satellites to semiconductor fabs and the power grid," adding that it is about "making it here (on U.S. soil), securing supply chains, creating great jobs, and keeping America the industrial and technology leader."
He also said, "Congratulations to Trump for another huge win for America." Tennessee is one of the "red state (Republican-leaning region)" strongholds for Trump, and among Korean corporations, LG Electronics has a home appliance plant in Clarksville.
Korea Zinc held a board meeting on the 15th Korea time and approved the investment to build the Tennessee smelter. The company later said in a news release that it "has signed a strategic partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (War Department) and the Department of Commerce and will proceed with a joint investment to build a large-scale smelter on 650,000 square meters in Clarksville, Tennessee."
The total expected investment for this project is 10.95 trillion won (about $7.452 billion), and under the U.S. CHIPS Act, the Department of Commerce plans to provide subsidies of up to about 300 billion won (about $210 million).