Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Jae-yong announces an investment plan during a meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, South Korea, 29 June 2026, to unveil the government's three mega projects aimed at attracting large-scale investment in semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers. South Korea plans to develop a new semiconductor production base in the country's southwestern region through 800 trillion won (517.9 billion US dollar) in corporate investments that will create four memory chip fabrication plants. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
July 5 (Asia Today) -- Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are facing a strategic balancing act as they move ahead with major U.S. semiconductor projects while preparing to invest about 800 trillion won, or $523.7 billion, in a new chip cluster in South Korea.
The two companies announced plans last week to build a semiconductor cluster in South Korea's southwest, part of a broader government-backed effort to strengthen the country's position in artificial intelligence chips and advanced memory.
The project is expected to include four new fabrication plants, two each from Samsung and SK hynix. But the plan comes as the companies are also watching possible pressure from the United States, where President Donald Trump has repeatedly used tariffs and investment demands as tools of industrial policy.
