President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks at the Digital Vision Forum held at the Kimmel Center at New York University (NYU) in New York, Wednesday (local time). / Yonhap

By Kim Hyun-bin

A total of seven U.S. companies in the semiconductor and secondary battery industries have pledged to invest a combined $1.15 billion in Korea to build plants, R&D centers and other facilities, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Energy said, Friday.

The ministry held the "North American Investment Reporting Ceremony and Investor Roundtable" in New York on Thursday (local time), amid President Yoon Suk-yeol's official visit to the U.S. to attend the UN General Assembly.

The technological cooperation between Korea and the U.S. has strengthened through investments by core U.S. companies in the fields of semiconductors and secondary batteries amid the pandemic and global supply chain disruptions.

This investment is expected to contribute not only to the domestic transfer of advanced technologies but also to nurturing high-level technical manpower. It is expected to contribute greatly to securing a competitive advantage in the domestic semiconductor industry and strengthening cooperation in Korea-U.S. supply chains.

According to the ministry, the world's four largest semiconductor equipment companies, including Applied Materials, BorgWarner and Northland Power, are actively expanding their investments in Korea, which is expected to have a very positive impact on strengthening the semiconductor ecosystem and supply chain. Applied Materials is leading in the investment to establish an R&D Center.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang evaluated this investment as meaningful as it is highly connected to strengthening the supply chain and promoting carbon neutrality.

At the "Korea-North American Investor Roundtable" event, representatives of 13 global companies that have already invested in or are interested in investing in Korea attended ― including Lam Research, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Google ― sharing investment results in Korea and future cooperation plans.