President Lee Jae-myung, followed by meetings with Chairman Choi Tae-won and Chairman Lee Jae-yong, at a 'semiconductor banquet'

President Lee Jae-myung met successively with top executives of major companies, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, to discuss investment plans both domestically and abroad.

According to political circles and business groups on the 27th, President Lee held a dinner meeting with Lee (Chairman) at an undisclosed location in Seoul the previous day. Earlier, on the 20th, President Lee also had dinner with SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won at an undisclosed location in Seoul. A meeting with Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Jung Byung-hyun was scheduled for the 24th but is currently being rescheduled.

It is understood that Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jeon Young-hyun, who oversees the company's semiconductor business, and Kim Yong-gwan (President) attended the previous day's meeting. President Lee reportedly focused discussions on investment-related matters during a series of private meetings, including the promotion of the Honam semiconductor cluster and the Yongin semiconductor industrial complex.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to invest a total of 800 trillion won by building two fabs (factories) each at the former Gwangju military airbase site in Jeollanam-do Province. Some political circles are also discussing the possibility of constructing additional fabs. Since announcing their Honam investment plans at the end of June, executives from Samsung Electronics and other companies have visited the region to review local conditions and infrastructure development plans.

During the meeting between the president and top business leaders, government support measures were discussed, including rapid power and water supply, infrastructure development, and permitting procedures. It is reported that Samsung and others requested strong government backing to accelerate the construction of the Yongin semiconductor cluster.

It is also understood that industry recommendations were conveyed, including exceptions to the 52nd-hour weekly working hour regulations for research and development (R&D) personnel, as well as responses to potential union disputes related to Honam investments.

The issue of investment pressure from the U.S. Trump administration was reportedly also addressed. Following announcements of large-scale investment plans by Korean companies, such as new semiconductor fab construction in Honam led by the South Korean government, the United States has demanded that these companies build memory semiconductor production facilities in the U.S.

While both semiconductor companies are expanding investments in the U.S., concrete plans for new memory fabs have not yet been finalized. SK Hynix is scheduled to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for an advanced packaging (post-process) production base in West Lafayette, Indiana, on this evening Korean time. There are also plans to build front-end memory factories in the U.S., though finding suitable locations remains challenging. Choi (Chairman) stated in a CNBC interview on the 13th that "we have been searching for a suitable site for over a month."

Samsung Electronics plans to begin operations at its foundry fab in Taylor, Texas, later this year. A second factory is also scheduled to break ground by the end of this year and will be built in Yangsan starting in 2030. However, there are currently no plans to construct new memory factories.

An industry official stated, "The world is literally engaged in a war for dominance in the semiconductor industry," adding that "it has never been more necessary for the government to actively reflect our companies' urgent needs and share strategies with a one-team spirit."