The United States is pressing South Korea and its semiconductor companies to build memory chip production facilities on U.S. soil and ensure stable supplies, while criticizing the roughly 800 trillion won, or about $560 billion, government-led Honam Semiconductor Cluster project. The demands were raised during Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan’s four-day U.S. visit beginning on the 16th for investment negotiations and mark the first time Washington has directly named a South Korean government-led mega-project in such talks. U.S. dissatisfaction centers on the slow implementation of Korean companies’ planned U.S. investments, rather than opposition to the Honam project itself. Seoul maintains that the semiconductor demands are separate from the previously agreed $350 billion U.S. investment arrangement and plans to announce an initial group of U.S.-bound projects in September. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together control more than 70% of the global DRAM market, leaving Korean companies facing potential two-front investment pressure as they pursue both U.S. facilities and the domestic cluster. Engagement between President Lee Jae-myung and major conglomerate leaders has intensified, while Foreign Minister Cho Hyun also discussed U.S. investment and bilateral relations by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Rubio.