South Korea, TSMC express concern about US chip subsidy criteria

THE criteria to qualify for new US semiconductor subsidies could be “burdensome” for companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, South Korea’s trade minister said on Thursday (Mar 30), as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) also expressed concern.

Conditions include sharing excess profit with the US government, and three industry sources said the application process itself could expose confidential corporate strategy.

Subsidies would come from a US$52 billion pool of research and manufacturing funds earmarked under the US’ so-called CHIPS Act, for which the Commerce Department announced guides and templates this month.

SK Hynix parent SK Group plans to invest US$15 billion in the US chip sector, including to build an advanced chip packaging factory, and has said it is considering applying for funding. Samsung is building a chip plant in Texas that could cost more than US$25 billion and has said it is reviewing the guidelines.

However, funding applications may require detailed cost structure information as well as projected wafer yields, utilisation rates and price changes, which three Korean chip sources told Reuters was akin to revealing corporate strategy.

“All of this is confidential information. The most important thing in chips is cost structure. Experts will be able to tell our strategy at a glance,” said one of the sources, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

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The US’ subsidy provisions should reflect the opinions of the government and companies of South Korea so they do not impose any undue burden on those companies, South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun said in a statement.

The statement followed a meeting between Ahn and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai in South Korea, a leading chipmaking country and investor in the US chip sector.

Speaking at an industry event in Taiwan, the chairman of TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said they had some concerns too.

“We are still discussing with them. There are some conditions that cannot be accepted. We hope that they can be adjusted so there will be no negative effect. We will continue to talk to the US government,” Mark Liu told reporters.

TSMC is investing US$40 billion in a new plant in Arizona.

The US Department of Commerce will accept subsidy applications for leading-edge chip facilities from Mar 31, and for current-generation, mature-node and back-end production facilities from Jun 26.

Later on Thursday, South Korea’s parliament approved a bill offering large tax breaks to strategic industries – including the semiconductor industry – which invest at home, to strengthen supply-chain security while boosting the economy.

The approval comes in the same month the government announced a 550 trillion won (S$562.5 billion) private-sector investment plan to maintain the competitiveness of high-tech industries while other countries are actively bolstering theirs. REUTERS