The U.S. government has begun in earnest to pressure Korean semiconductor corporations to tackle the shortage of memory chips, a key element for the development of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
On the 9th (local time), Howard Lutnick, U.S. commerce minister, attended a Micron Technology event in Syracuse, New York, and said, "We are discussing ways to expand investment in the United States with Korean memory chip manufacturers," adding, "Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra may not want it, but I would like to call competitors Samsung Electronics(005930) and SK hynix(000660) to the United States and have them build semiconductor plants." The remarks are taken to mean that to resolve the global chip component shortage and build a stable domestic supply chain, global leading corporations must sharply increase production directly on U.S. soil.
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are planning mammoth greenfield plant investments totaling $880 billion over the next several years to secure leadership in AI infrastructure. In particular, SK hynix is expected to raise up to $27 billion immediately on the 10th through a listing of depository receipts in the United States. Market investors see a strong likelihood that the funds raised in the stock market will be funneled entirely into expanding next-generation chip production capacity.
Minister Lutnick revealed a plan to attract a substantial portion of this massive investment to the U.S. mainland to firmly build a U.S.-centric semiconductor ecosystem. At the event, he said, "Micron is blazing the trail at the front, so other rival corporations will be jealous and eventually follow," adding, "We want to strongly protect the great American corporations and those who invest massively in intellectual property." On the day, U.S. chipmaker Micron abruptly announced an ultra-large, long-term plan to invest $250 billion in expanding U.S. production facilities by 2035. After confirming strong support from the government, Micron's stock jumped as much as 9.1% intraday on the New York market.
Instead, the U.S. government is drawing a hard line against attempts by its big tech corporations to adopt Chinese-made memory chips in products. At present, China's Changxin Memory and Yangtze Memory, which make Chinese memory, are on the U.S. Ministry of National Defense blacklist. For U.S. corporations to incorporate these products into the global supply chain, U.S. government approval is required. Apple CEO Tim Cook is trying to persuade the Donald Trump administration to allow the use of Chinese-made memory chips to offset ongoing component price increases, but the U.S. government and the U.S. industry, including Micron, are putting the brakes on any move toward approval.
Experts said that if Chinese corporations were to enter the U.S. market backed by American big tech like Apple, large-scale U.S. mainland semiconductor investment plans could run aground due to a severe deterioration in profitability. For this reason, a dominant view holds that the Donald Trump administration will further ratchet up overt investment pressure on Korean corporations with proven technological prowess to simultaneously achieve its two core goals of ironclad protection of domestic industry and containing China.