Yoon, Biden come together over semiconductors
The two nations’ leaders met in Samsung’s chip plant in Pyeongtaek on Friday
US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (foreground) visit Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on May 20, 2022. The presidents sign their names to 3-nanometers wafers based on GAA. (Yonhap News)
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and US President Joe Biden pledged on Friday to strengthen the economic alliance between their two countries by bolstering cooperation in the areas of supply chains and cutting-edge technology, including semiconductors.
Biden, who kicked off a three-day trip to Korea on Friday, met Yoon at the Samsung Electronics campus in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, where they demonstrated their commitment to expanding the two countries’ alliance into the area of technology.
“President Biden’s visit to the Pyeongtaek campus today will serve as a good opportunity to reflect upon both what semiconductors mean for the economy and security and what they mean for the Korea-US ‘global comprehensive strategic alliance,’” Yoon said in a speech after touring the factory with Biden. “I hope that [Biden’s] visit will give us a chance to upgrade Korea-US relations into an economic and security alliance grounded in cutting-edge technology and cooperation on supply chains.”
Biden called for close cooperation in the areas of cutting-edge technology and supply chains and said their relationship would develop further as an alliance of nations working to make “the best, most advanced technology in the world.”
“Uniting our skills and our technological know-how,” Biden said, “allows the production of chips that are critical to both our countries and are essential [. . . to] our global economy.”
Biden also made an oblique reference to containing China. After remarking that global supply chains have been further disrupted by the chip shortfall and the war in Ukraine, he said that strengthening economic and security cooperation through technology alliances with trusted countries like South Korea which share American values would facilitate more development.
Biden said he believes that strengthening the Korea-US alliance is extremely important for the stability, peace, and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region and the whole world and also urged Korea to help work together with the US to secure critical supply chains so that “our economic and our national security are not dependent on countries that don’t share our values.”
US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (foreground) visit Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, on May 20, 2022. The presidents step onto the platform to deliver speeches. (Yonhap News)
The two leaders’ visit to the Samsung semiconductor factory signifies that Korea and the US intend to upgrade their relationship beyond a military alliance and into an alliance that covers cutting-edge technology and supply chains.
The South Korean presidential office described this as “an expression of our strong commitment to continue working together to address global supply chain issues by strengthening our economic and security alliance through semiconductors.”
The fact that Yoon and Biden’s first meeting revolved around semiconductors — which are considered integral to the security of the industries of the future — appears to reflect Biden’s determination to regard semiconductors as a strategic material linked to national security, a stance he’s shown since his inauguration in January of last year.
Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek campus is the world’s largest semiconductor factory, producing the next generation of memory chips (DRAM and NAND) as well as ultrafine chips on behalf of other companies.
Through cooperation with Korea, the US hopes to strengthen its semiconductor supply chain while leaving China out.
The Korean presidential office explained that it plans to use various channels, including the “semiconductor partnership dialogue,” which was set up last November, to discuss ways to promote growth in both countries’ semiconductors industries and cooperation between those sectors while bolstering cooperation on pending issues in global supply chains.
“That means that our two countries will closely coordinate their policies and take joint action in regard to key agendas for our technology-based alliance, including building supply chains and cooperating on cutting-edge technology such as semiconductors, secondary batteries and artificial intelligence,” the office said.
Yoon will hold a summit with Biden in his presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on Saturday. The key topics they’re expected to discuss during the summit are North Korean nuclear weapons, economic security and international issues.
Yoon and Biden are expected to emphasize economic and technological cooperation while outlining a response to North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile tests that focuses on strengthening the Korea-US alliance.
Prior to the summit, Yoon confirmed that Korea will join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, which is likely to function as a technological and economic coalition against China.
By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter
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