"America First" Biden Era: Korean Companies Rush to Invest in the US

SK, Hanwha, Local Companies Acquire Shares
Semiconductor Firms Also Actively Invest

U.S. President Joe Biden is holding a semiconductor chip and mentioning the purpose of the executive order before signing the executive order on semiconductor supply chain establishment at the White House on the 24th of last month (local time).
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] In addition to LG Energy Solution, large-scale investments by Korean companies in the U.S. market are continuing.

As U.S. President Joe Biden continues the America-first policies such as "Buy American" that were initiated under the Donald Trump administration, analysis suggests that Korean companies are increasingly focusing on the U.S. market.

According to industry sources on the 12th, the domestic industry with the most active recent direct investment in the U.S. is the energy sector.

SK Group is a representative example. SK Inc. and SK E&S secured a 9.9% stake in the U.S. hydrogen company Plug Power earlier this year by investing about 1.6 trillion KRW, becoming the largest shareholder. Plug Power has capabilities in hydrogen-based mobility businesses such as forklifts and trucks that use hydrogen as fuel.

SK Innovation is also constructing a factory in Georgia, USA, with an investment of about 3 trillion KRW to produce electric vehicle batteries with an annual capacity of 430,000 units (21.5 GWh). It is reported that SK Innovation intends to make additional investments in the U.S. if the dispute with LG Energy Solution is resolved well.

Hanwha Group is also expanding its investments in the U.S. Hanwha Q CELLS, the energy solutions division of Hanwha Solutions, acquired the U.S. energy software company Growing Energy Labs (abbreviated as GELI) last year. Hanwha Solutions also acquired Simarron, a U.S. high-pressure tank company that started as an internal venture of NASA, and is actively advancing into the space business.

Investments by the semiconductor industry in the U.S. are also progressing rapidly.

SK Hynix, which acquired Intel's NAND business last year for $9 billion (about 10.3 trillion KRW), received an "approval" notification from the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on this day, officially expanding its NAND business. With this CFIUS investment approval, SK Hynix has completed all U.S. regulatory review procedures related to the acquisition of Intel's NAND business.

Samsung Electronics is also considering additional semiconductor investments in the U.S. Samsung is negotiating investments with local governments in four locations: two in Austin, Texas and Arizona, where system semiconductor factories are located, and one in New York.

Hyundai Motor Group is also expanding its robotics business by acquiring the U.S. robotics company Boston Dynamics.

Korean companies are rushing to invest in the U.S. to quickly respond to changes in the export environment due to the Biden administration's Buy American policy. Lee Boohyung, Deputy Director at Hyundai Research Institute, explained, "Direct investment from Korea to the U.S. has increased significantly since the Trump administration, and under the Biden administration, due to Buy American, green energy policies, and regulations on China, it is highly likely that Korean companies' direct investment in the U.S. will continue to increase."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.