US and South Korea agree to minimise chipmakers’ uncertainties on subsidy requirements: Ministry

The US secretary of commerce and her South Korean counterpart agreed to “minimise uncertainties” of chipmakers’ investments amid new US semiconductor subsidies, Korea’s industry ministry said on Friday.

Companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 memory chipmakers, are concerned about the criteria for subsidies from the CHIPS Act, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has said.

Industry Minister Chang-Yang Lee asked Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to help resolve chipmakers’ uncertainties about subsidy requirements, such as providing “excessive” corporate information and sharing excess profit with the US government, the ministry said in a statement.