Overview
- Seoul and Washington finalized a deal cutting U.S. tariffs on Korean cars and parts to 15% in return for a US$350 billion Korean investment pledge in the U.S., including US$150 billion for shipbuilding and US$200 billion for other sectors capped at US$20 billion annually.
- President Lee Jae Myung met chaebol leaders to coordinate follow-up and vowed to remove business hurdles, saying the government could buy subordinated R&D bonds or take first-loss risk to support high‑risk investment.
- Samsung committed 450 trillion won over five years, including the Pyeongtaek P5 chip line set to start operations in 2028, new AI data centers in South Jeolla and Gumi, and annual domestic hiring of 60,000 people for five years.
- Hyundai Motor Group set a 125.2 trillion won plan for 2026–2030 focused on AI, robotics, R&D and production upgrades, and said it will retroactively cover 2025 U.S. tariff costs for its tier‑one suppliers.
- SK Group said it will invest 128 trillion won in Korea through 2028 with new fabs at the Yongin chip cluster that could scale higher depending on demand, while maintaining over 8,000 domestic hires annually and targeting 14,000–20,000 jobs with partners.