The Peninsula

What Happened: Q4 2024

During a time of political change in both the United States and South Korea, new investments, partnerships, and diplomatic dialogues continued to strengthen the economic and technological partnership between the two nations. The following is a timeline of major US-Korea partnerships, investments, significant meetings, and diplomatic milestones from Q4 2024.

Major US-Korea Investment Deals and Partnerships:

Date	American Entity	Korean Entity	Project	Location
December 20	Department of Commerce	Samsung Electronics	The US Department of Commerce awards Samsung Electronics up to 4.745 billion USD in direct funding under the CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication facilities.	Texas
December 19	Department of Commerce	SK Hynix	The US Department of Commerce funds SK Hynix’s project to build a new plant in Indiana with grants of 458 million USD and loans up to 500 million USD under the CHIPS Act.	Indiana
December 19	Ford Motor Company, Department of Energy	BlueOval SK, SK On	BlueOval, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and Sk On, approved for a 9.3 billion USD loan by the US Department of Energy to construct three battery plants.	Kentucky and Tennessee
December 19	TerraPowerLLC	Doosan Enerbility	Doosan Enerbility signs a contract with TerraPower to supply key components for a small modular reactor project.	Wyoming
December 18	US LNG suppliers	Korea Gas Corporation	Korea Gas Corporation selects US LNG suppliers for long-term contracts in a major shift from procurement from the Middle East.	N/A
December 18	Undisclosed	Samsung Biologics	Samsung Biologics signs a 77 million USD contract with an undisclosed US pharmaceutical firm to provide contract manufacturing organization (CMO) services.	N/A
December 11		Hanwha Group	The Hanwha AI Center (HAC) is launched in San Fransisco, California. The center will help foster strategic partnerships with technology companies and research institutions, enable AI investments, and improve the understanding of AI trends.	San Fransisco, California
December 03	Electroninks	LIG Nex1	LIG Nex1 and Electroninks enter a partnership to research and develop next-generation component materials.	N/A
November 26	OpenAI	Korea Development Bank	OpenAI and the Korea Development Bank sign a memorandum of understanding to foster South Korea’s AI ecosystem and facilitate the development of Korean language-based AI models.	N/A
November 25	Atlanta Hawks	Kumho Tire	Kumho Tire and the Atlanta Hawks sign a multi-year partnership.	Atlanta, Georgia
November 19	Apollo Global Management	N/A	US private equity firm Apollo, with 733 billion USD under management, opens a Seoul office to expand its business in the Indo-Pacific.	Seoul, South Korea
November 11	SpaceX	LG Energy	SpaceX selects LG Energy to supply cylindrical batteries for its Starship rocket for Mars.	N/A
October 25	Admiral Steve Koehler, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet	Hanwa Group	Commander of the US Pacific Fleet Admiral Steve Koehler and Hanwha Group Vice Chairman Dong Kwan Kim meet to discuss ways to expand naval vessel maintenance partnership.	Geoje, South Korea
October 22	NVIDIA	Kakao	NVIDIA’s Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations discusses partnership opportunities as Kakao unveils Kanana, its new integrated AI brand.	Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
October 19	Ashley Furniture	Samsung Electronics	Ashley Furniture and Samsung Electronics partner to launch a new interactive flagship store experience, The Connected Home Experience, powered by Samsung SmartThings.	Nashville, Tennessee
October 16	N/A	Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Hyundai Motor	Korea Trade Insurance Corporation grants 1.35 billion USD in financing to Hyundai Motor for the ongoing construction of an EV manufacturing plant in Bryan County, Georgia.	Ellabell, Georgia
October 15	Ford	LG Energy Solution	LG Energy Solution signs two separate contracts to supply US auto manufacturer Ford Motor Company with batteries for commercial EVs intended for the European market.	N/A
October 04	Waymo	Hyundai	Waymo and Hyundai Motor Company announce a multi-year strategic partnership to integrate Waymo’s fully autonomous driving technology into the Hyundai IONIQ 5 SUV, which will become part of the Waymo One fleet.	Ellabell, Georgia

Trade and Diplomacy Dialogues:

December 13 – Tyler Moore, the mayor of Kokomo, Indiana, leads an economic development delegation to South Korea. During the visit, the delegation engages with South Korean firms responsible for investments in the Kokomo area worth over 6.2 billion USD since 2020, including the Samsung SDI-Stellantis joint venture projected to construct two EV battery manufacturing facilities.

December 11 – US National Governors Association (NGA) Vice Chair and Governor of Oklahoma Kevin Stitt and ROK Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Dukgeun discuss bilateral economic cooperation in Seoul. The conversation underscores the importance of continued investments, technology cooperation, efforts to secure global value chains, and continuity in major US policies. Minister Ahn suggests that the two sides seek concrete cooperation around Korea’s aim to secure a diverse and stable energy ecosystem and Oklahoma’s abundant energy resources.

December 11 – The United States, South Korea, and Japan convene during the Indo-Pacific Dialogue in Tokyo. The parties discuss ways to collectively contribute to peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, maritime security capabilities, South Korea’s chairmanship of APEC in 2025, and economic and development-related collaboration in the region.

November 20 – Minister Ahn meets with US-Korea Business Council Chairman Evan Greenberg in South Korea. Discussions center around the growing economic relationship in semiconductors, batteries, and other high-tech industries, as well as strengthening communications with the US government and Congress to prepare for possible shifts in US trade policies and the global trade landscape.

November 18-19 – Brazil hosts the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit. President Yoon attends the meeting, following his attendance at the APEC meeting in Peru.

November 15-16 – President Yoon attends the 2024 APEC Summit in Lima, Peru. President Yoon delivers a keynote speech and proposes the establishment of a forum to set standards and promote the integration of AI and manufacturing among member states. During the summit, Yoon meets with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in bilateral and trilateral meetings. South Korea is set to host the 2025 APEC Summit in Gyeongju in November.

October 31 – The US International Trade Commission (USITC) determines in its anti-dumping investigation that aluminum extrusions from 14 countries, including South Korea, do not injure US industry. The 0–43.56 percent anti-dumping duties on imports of Korean aluminum extrusions and car parts are terminated.

October 30 – ROK Deputy Minister for Trade, Industry and Energy Park Jong-won meets the US economic delegation led by the US-Asia Institute (USAI). Discussions focus on widening bilateral trade and deepening cooperation in bio and other advanced industries.

October 24 – US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and ROK Minister for Trade Cheong Inkyo discuss US-Korea trade issues in a bilateral meeting during the G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting in Brazil.

October 18 – Governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum and Minister Ahn discuss the importance of stable bilateral relations, stressing efforts in high-tech industries and supply chains. Specifically, topics surround major U.S. policies, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the CHIPS and Science Act.

 

Nils Wollesen Osterberg is Economic Policy Associate at the Korea Economic Institute of America. The views expressed here are the author’s alone.

Photo from Shutterstock.

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