According to the Korea Ministry of Trade press release on April 26, 2023, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) announced on April 26 that on April 25 at the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AmCham), on the occasion of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit to the U.S., six U.S. firms agreed to invest a total of USD 1.9 billion in Korea’s hydrogen, semiconductor and eco-friendly businesses.
This investment is substantially larger than the formerly $1.2 billion pledged during the North American investors’ roundtable held last September, which is significant in that the two countries are strengthening their strategic economic and technology partnership, while further tightening cooperation in supply chain and economic security.
With this investment deal, U.S.-based global companies specializing in areas like hydrogen (Air Products, Plug Power), semiconductors (On Semiconductor, Greene Tweed) and carbon neutral (PureCycle Technologies, EMP Belstar) will build facilities for clean hydrogen, semiconductors and related equipment parts, waste plastic recycling and cryogenic cold chain logistics in Korea.
Air Products’ green ammonia and green hydrogen terminals and cracking facility, as well as Plug Power’s hydrogen technology R&D center and fuel cell battery production facilities are expected to greatly contribute to domestic clean hydrogen commercialization, supply chain expansion and hydrogen mobility supply scale-up.
It is anticipated that the production facilities for On Semiconductor’s Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Greene Tweed’s o-rings will bolster the Korea-U.S. supply chain and technology cooperation in the semiconductor sector.
In addition, the establishment of PureCycle Technologies’ waste plastic recycling facilities and EMP Belstar’s eco-friendly cryogenic cold chain logistics center are forecast to play a large role in transitioning Korea’s domestic industrial structure towards one that is capable of achieving carbon neutral.
Noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Korea-U.S. diplomatic ties, Minister Lee remarked that these investment agreements signify the progress of the Korea-U.S. alliance with respect to not only military or security, but as an investment alliance as well. Minister Lee highly praised this joint step as the two countries’ advancement towards a “global, inclusive strategic alliance.”
Lastly, he stated that active support will be provided so as to make sure this investment is implemented successfully, while improvements to enhance the foreign investment environment will continue, such as strengthening incentives for high-tech industry investment and innovating rules that are either discriminatory against foreign-invested companies or incompatible with global standards.
