White House summons Samsung day before S. Korea-US summit

Samsung Electronics may use the White House summit as an opportunity to announce investment plans in the US

US President Joe Biden holds up a silicon wafer as he participates virtually in the CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience in the White House on April 12. (AP/Yonhap News)

The White House is summoning back Samsung Electronics and other global semiconductor companies for a meeting ahead of a South Korea-US summit scheduled for May 21.

It is to be the Joe Biden administration’s second meeting on semiconductor measures at the White House after another one held last month. Observers predict it will apply even more investment pressure on Samsung Electronics and other major companies.

Bloomberg reported Monday that US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo had invited several semiconductor, finished automobile and information technology companies to take part in a May 20 video summit on the semiconductor situation. The businesses invited included Samsung Electronics, the Taiwanese company TSMC, Google, Amazon, General Motors and Ford.

The report cited sources familiar with the matter as saying that Commerce Department staff were “set to meet this week with company representatives to craft the agenda.”

Semiconductor industry observers say Samsung Electronics will use the White House summit as an opportunity to announce investment plans that include the establishment of a semiconductor factory in the US.

Samsung Electronics has been considering an investment of US$17 billion to expand its semiconductor factories in the US and elsewhere. The city of Austin, Texas, where it currently has a foundry operation, is being seen as a strong candidate site.

Shortly after the first White House meeting was held, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger indicated that his company planned to work actively in response to Biden’s investment request, saying on April 12 that his company was in talks with automobile semiconductor design businesses, with the aim of producing actual semiconductors within the next six to nine months.

By Sun Dam-eun, staff reporter

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