US chip suppliers commit $2 billion to South Korea semiconductor supply chain

Four American technology and energy companies pledged a combined $2 billion in foreign direct investment to South Korea on Sept. 4, targeting domestic chip manufacturing, materials processing and power infrastructure.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the commitments following an investment declaration ceremony held Sept. 3 in Washington. South Korea's industry minister Kim Jung-kwan and executives from all four firms attended the signing.

The participating companies are industrial gas supplier Air Products, semiconductor equipment manufacturer Axcelis Technologies, advanced glassmaker Corning and clean energy developer Pacifico Energy. The commitments represent roughly 5.5% of South Korea's total foreign direct investment reported in 2025.

Air Products will construct dedicated gas infrastructure inside the semiconductor cluster in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul. The facility will supply ultra-high-purity carrier gases, hydrogen and specialty rare gases directly to Samsung Electronics wafer fabrication lines.

The project marks the largest single capital deployment by Air Products in South Korea since the company entered the domestic market. On-site pipeline connections reduce overland transport risks and eliminate chemical contamination vulnerabilities during advanced wafer patterning.

Air Products Chief Executive Eduardo Menezes attended the Washington ceremony to finalize the filing. The expansion anchors the company's gas synthesis and distribution network directly inside South Korea's primary memory hub.

Axcelis Technologies plans to expand its semiconductor equipment manufacturing facility in Pyeongtaek. The company builds ion implantation systems — capital tools that shoot energetic dopant atoms into silicon wafers to modify their electrical conductivity — at the site.

The Pyeongtaek plant is currently the only manufacturing hub Axcelis operates outside the United States. Under the new investment plan, the company will add cleanroom manufacturing space, research laboratories, prototype testing lines and an engineering training center.

Axcelis will use the expanded Pyeongtaek campus as an export base for customers across East Asia, the ministry said. The move places equipment assembly and maintenance teams within driving distance of major memory fabs operated by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

Ion implanters represent a critical front-end equipment category dominated globally by Axcelis and Applied Materials. Local assembly accelerates tool delivery for fabricators producing high-density dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and specialized power semiconductors.

Corning will upgrade its manufacturing operations in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, roughly 85 kilometers south of Seoul. The site will install advanced processing lines for specialized materials used in next-generation mobile displays and semiconductor packaging.

Corning has maintained manufacturing joint ventures and wholly owned production operations in South Korea since 1973. The Asan upgrade focuses on precision glass substrates engineered to withstand high thermal loads during advanced packaging and heterogeneous chip integration.

Pacifico Energy submitted an investment declaration to advance a 3.2-gigawatt fixed-bottom offshore wind project off the coast of Jindo, South Jeolla Province. The development aims to supply utility-scale electricity to regional grids and expanding industrial facilities.

South Korea plans to build large-scale semiconductor and artificial intelligence data center hubs outside the Seoul metropolitan area, requiring dedicated clean power generation. Pacifico Energy's offshore wind capacity targets those future regional industrial electricity demands.

The ministry notice did not disclose the individual dollar allocation for each of the four companies. The government also did not publish binding milestone schedules or expected commercial completion dates for the respective capital projects.

Global semiconductor toolmakers and industrial suppliers have expanded capital spending in South Korea as domestic chipmakers build massive mega-fabs in Gyeonggi Province. Domestic operations allow suppliers to bypass maritime freight delays and navigate international logistics bottlenecks.

For Korean chipmakers, localized equipment manufacturing and gas delivery shorten procurement cycles for critical fab inputs. In-country assembly lines also shield local foundries from cross-border component disruptions during sudden trade frictions.

The commitments follow ongoing government incentive programs designed to attract foreign high-technology companies to South Korea. The trade ministry provides cash grants, subsidized industrial site leases and tax deductions for investments designated as national strategic technologies.

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency President Kang Kyung-sung said the investments align directly with South Korea's national development priorities across semiconductors, data centers and physical artificial intelligence. The agency coordinated the Washington investor roundtable alongside the ministry.

The state investment agency will assign dedicated project managers to assist each company through regulatory permitting, environmental reviews, factory licensing and power grid interconnections. Trade ministry officials held bilateral working sessions with corporate leadership following the signing ceremony.