The Korea-U.S. strategic investment agreement differs in nature from the familiar foreign direct investment we know. Of the total $350 billion, $200 billion will be funded by Korea for strategic industry projects selected by the United States, while $150 billion will cover direct investment, guarantees, and ship financing in the shipbuilding sector. The $200 billion will be executed within an annual limit of $20 billion, with the U.S. president making the final selection of projects. Cash available for distribution will be split equally between Korea and the United States until Korea recovers its principal and interest; thereafter, the split will be 10% for Korea and 90% for the United States. This is an unusual structure where risks are borne but profit sharing is limited. In return, the United States has agreed to prioritize Korean companies as suppliers whenever possible and to cooperate on land, power, water, and permits.
The United States has long been a "land of opportunity" for individuals. Among the 2025 Fortune 500 companies, 109 were founded by first-generation immigrants born abroad. The United States has also been a land of opportunity for foreign companies. Sony grew into a global enterprise using the U.S. market as a springboard. Even if a company expands its business in the United States, it can return dividends, export proceeds, and technology and service revenues to its home country as long as the headquarters retains equity and core technologies.
Therefore, when investing in the United States, it is necessary to focus on industries with high "U.S. suitability." These are industries where technological capabilities are at world-class levels but the domestic market is small, demand is rapidly growing in the United States, and core technologies and value-added components can remain domestically. A representative example is the power sector. With the expansion of AI data centers, U.S. power facility demand is surging, and Korea has competitiveness in nuclear power plants, gas turbines for power generation, EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) for power plants, transformers, and power equipment, aligning interests.
In particular, demand for gas turbines is surging. In 2025, large-scale gas turbine orders in the United States reached 51 gigawatts (GW), the highest level since 2000, while global demand also exceeded 100 GW. Doosan Enerbility secured orders for 23 units of 380-megawatt (MW) class gas turbines domestically and internationally by March. The United States can supplement its insufficient supply capacity, while Korean companies can expand their business in the world's largest power generation market. Markets for generators, HRSGs (heat recovery steam generators), transformers, control systems, materials, components, and long-term maintenance services will also open up together. If the procurement structure and supply chain established in the first project lead to subsequent U.S. projects and orders from third countries, the industrial impact will be even greater.
In the process of selecting projects, it is necessary to consider not only commercial rationality but also the effects on Korean companies securing orders and exports, entry of mid-sized and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) into U.S. supply chains, long-term services and follow-on orders, and impacts on domestic R&D (research and development) and high-value-added production. The more the market secured in the United States leads to domestic technology development and production, the greater the investment effect will be.
This large-scale U.S. investment is unusual in that it is being promoted in conjunction with tariff policies under the leadership of the White House. Given that it is inevitably moving forward, we hope that just as the United States was a land of opportunity for individuals, it will become a new stage for growth for Korean companies. We hope that the markets and achievements gained in the United States will translate into competitiveness for Korean industry once again, making this U.S. investment more than a burden and serving as a springboard for new leaps.
in INDUSTRY
