[Edaily Reporter SOYEON KIM ] Pressure from the U.S. to invest domestically is intensifying. The Trump administration has even threatened to impose broad tariffs on semiconductors, deepening the concerns of South Korean semiconductor companies. While there are no products capable of replacing “K-semiconductors” in the artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor sector, there are concerns that the U.S. use of semiconductor tariffs could lead to a global contraction in semiconductor demand.

◇ Targeting Finished Products as Well… Talk of High-Intensity Semiconductor Tariffs
According to foreign media and industry sources on the 28th, the U.S. government is discussing a plan to significantly expand the scope of semiconductor tariffs. Proposals are being discussed to include not only semiconductors themselves but also various finished products that contain them—such as laptops, game consoles, and data center servers—within the scope of the tariffs. This indicates the mention of high-intensity semiconductor tariffs targeting not only the chips themselves but also the finished products that incorporate them.

This is interpreted as an attempt to pressure global semiconductor companies through tariffs to build semiconductor production facilities within the U.S. and strengthen the country’s domestic semiconductor supply chain.

In particular, the U.S. government is also discussing a plan to set tariff rates and quotas on a country-by-country basis and issue tailored guidelines to semiconductor companies. Furthermore, it intends to link tariff relief benefits to commitments to invest in U.S. semiconductor production. For example, foreign companies would be granted quotas allowing them to import a certain volume of semiconductors duty-free, but the size of these quotas would be tied to the scale of investment in U.S. production facilities that the companies commit to.

If this tariff plan is implemented, the calculations for South Korea’s top two semiconductor firms—SamsungElectronics and SK hynix—are expected to become even more complicated. In particular, SamsungElectronics and SK hynix are seeing a significant increase in sales in the U.S. due to rising prices for general-purpose DRAM and NAND, as well as High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM).

SamsungElectronics’ revenue in the U.S. more than doubled in the first half of this year. As of the end of June, SamsungElectronics’ exports to the U.S. totaled 70.6466 trillion won, according to its regional revenue breakdown. This represents a 111% increase compared to the same period last year (33.4759 trillion won), amounting to a rise of 37.1707 trillion won. While this figure includes revenue from finished products (DX) other than semiconductors, it is estimated that the majority comes from memory semiconductor sales.

For SK hynix in particular, approximately 64% of its total revenue is generated in the U.S. According to the semi-annual report recently disclosed by SK hynix, U.S. revenue as of the end of June this year totaled 84.5648 trillion won, accounting for 64.1% of total revenue. This represents an increase of 56.7304 trillion won compared to U.S. revenue in the first half of last year (27.8344 trillion won).

Given the high proportion of exports to the U.S., particularly of high-value-added memory, an expansion of tariffs to include data center servers and finished products could lead to a widespread contraction in demand. There are already concerns that rising memory prices are eroding the profitability of global Big Tech companies. If memory semiconductor prices rise further due to the imposition of tariffs, memory demand itself could be undermined.

◇ TSMC Announces Massive Investment in the U.S. … Pressure on Samsung and Hynix
Furthermore, the precedent set by Taiwan’s TSMC poses a burden for Korean companies. Earlier this past January, as part of a trade agreement between the U.S. and Taiwan, the U.S. lowered mutual tariff rates from 20% to 15% after the Taiwanese company TSMC announced a massive investment in the U.S. The total investment pledged by Taiwan to the U.S. amounts to $500 billion (approximately 736 trillion won). TSMC accounts for the majority of this investment.

TSMC’s investment in the U.S. is centered in Phoenix, Arizona, and has been continuously increased from the initial plan, expanding significantly to a total of $265 billion (approximately 390 trillion won). Ten foundry plants using cutting-edge processes of 2 nanometers or smaller, two advanced packaging plants, and one research and development (R&D) center will be established in the U.S. This is a massive project to build TSMC’s semiconductor ecosystem—from wafer production to advanced packaging and R&D—locally in the United States.

Just as TSMC has built a tariff defense by making preemptive investments in the U.S., Korean companies may also face strong pressure to expand their production bases within the United States. Last May, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jameson Greer stated that comprehensive tariffs on semiconductors would be imposed at an appropriate time, while also noting that semiconductor companies relocating their production facilities to the U.S. would be allowed a certain volume of imports.

SamsungElectronics is investing a total of $37 billion (approximately 51 trillion won) to build a semiconductor foundry (contract manufacturing) plant in Taylor, Texas. Taylor Plant 1, which will serve as a core facility, is in the final stages of preparation with the goal of beginning operations within this year, while Taylor Plant 2 is set to break ground at the end of this year with the goal of starting mass production in 2030.

On the 27th (local time), SK hynix held a groundbreaking ceremony for an advanced packaging production facility for AI memory in West Lafayette, Indiana. SK hynix is investing a total of more than $4 billion (approximately 5.515 trillion won) to build the Indiana plant and will begin mass production of next-generation HBM in the second half of 2029.

The Indiana semiconductor plant is SK hynix’s first HBM production outpost in the U.S. and will operate with a production system closely integrated between Korea and the U.S. State-of-the-art wafers produced in Korea will be shipped to Indiana, where they will undergo advanced packaging and testing before “Made in USA” HBM products are supplied to U.S. customers.

In response to pressure from the Trump administration to manufacture within the U.S., SamsungElectronics and SK hynix may expand the scale of their originally planned investments. While SK hynix has left open the possibility of additional investments in the U.S. beyond Indiana, it has not limited its investment targets to any specific country.