US Commerce Secretary: "Taiwanese Company Planning to Invest in Korea Persuaded by Phone to Settle in the US"

Gina Raimondo, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
[Photo by Reuters]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Gina Raimondo, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce leading the Biden administration's semiconductor policy, revealed that she persuaded a Taiwanese semiconductor company that was planning to invest in Korea to instead invest in the United States.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) released on the 6th (local time), Secretary Raimondo said that Taiwanese semiconductor company GlobalWafers abandoned its $5 billion (approximately 6.9 trillion KRW) plan to expand its semiconductor factory in Germany and was reviewing other investment options as of last February. She shared that her team took the initiative to persuade GlobalWafers.

Secretary Raimondo disclosed that she had a one-hour phone call with Doris Su, CEO of GlobalWafers, last June, during which Su mentioned that without U.S. subsidies, the company would build a new factory in Korea, where construction costs are about one-third of those in the U.S. Raimondo then persuaded Su by saying, "Let's do the math," and ultimately, two weeks later, GlobalWafers announced plans to build a new factory in Texas with a $5 billion investment, creating 1,500 jobs.

WSJ evaluated that the Department of Commerce, led by Secretary Raimondo, is playing the role of a "driver" in the Biden administration's efforts to counter China's geopolitical ambitions and Russia's invasion. While the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) previously took primary responsibility for trade agreements, the Department of Commerce is now leading issues ranging from semiconductor investments to supply chain cooperation.

Secretary Raimondo stated, "The most important thing we can do to compete with China is investment in the United States," adding, "The U.S. needs to dominate certain technology sectors such as critical minerals, electric vehicle batteries, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI)."

In the interview, Raimondo also revealed that she contacted former senior national security officials from the Trump administration to garner congressional support for the $52 billion semiconductor support law. According to reports, after hearing from her security team that former White House National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster praised her on a podcast, Raimondo invited McMaster and three other former Trump administration officials to emphasize that the semiconductor law is a bipartisan priority for U.S. national security.

Four months later, the semiconductor law passed the Senate with the support of 17 Republican senators.

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