On October 29, 2025, US President Donald Trump will be awarded the Grand Order of Mugunghwa during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
Samsung Electronics and other major South Korean companies announced new domestic investment plans in a meeting with President Lee Jae-myung on Sunday. The president hopes the move will counter concerns that he will prioritize investments in the United States under trade deals.
Prime Minister Lee’s meeting with business leaders came days after the government finalized a trade deal with the United States in which South Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in American industry in exchange for avoiding the Trump administration’s highest tariffs.
Samsung, the world leader in computer chips, announced that it plans to invest 450 trillion won ($310 billion) over the next five years to expand its domestic operations. This includes building another production line at its Pyeongtaek manufacturing site to meet the surge in global demand for semiconductors driven by artificial intelligence.
Samsung said the new line, scheduled to start operating in 2028, is part of a broader effort to secure additional production capacity in anticipation of increased demand for memory chips over the medium to long term. The company also plans to build AI data centers in South Jeolla Province in the southwestern part of the country and Gumi City in the southeast to support the government’s efforts to narrow the development gap between the Seoul metropolitan area and other regions.
Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest automaker, said it plans to invest 125 trillion won ($86.3 billion) from 2026 to 2030 to expand domestic research and development and advance new technologies such as AI, robotics and self-driving cars.
Similarly, semiconductor giant SK Group and shipbuilding companies Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai also announced plans to increase domestic investment. Both are central to South Korea’s efforts to strengthen the U.S. shipbuilding industry, which President Donald Trump has emphasized in negotiations with South Korea.
In a meeting with business leaders, Prime Minister Lee gave credit to the business sector for helping the government negotiate a trade deal with the United States, but urged companies to maintain strong domestic investment to allay concerns that they would cut domestic spending to invest more in the United States. He said the government is considering various policy measures, including deregulation, to create a more favorable business environment for companies.
SK Chairman Choi Tae-won, whose group plans to invest at least 128 trillion won ($88.3 billion) domestically through 2028, mainly in AI, said the conclusion of trade negotiations with the United States would ease uncertainty and pave the way for bolder domestic investments.
The two governments on Friday announced details of a trade deal that includes $150 billion in South Korean investment in the U.S. shipbuilding sector and an additional $200 billion in other U.S. industries. The South Korean government announced that this amount would be capped at $20 billion annually to prevent financial instability.
The United States has agreed to reduce tariffs on Korean-made cars and auto parts from 25% to 15%, and to apply future tariffs on Korean-made semiconductors on terms “no less” than those given to comparable competitors.
