<Anchor>

Our flagship industry, the semiconductor industry, is becoming a battlefield without gunfire. Especially in recent years, exports have declined significantly, and even the business environment is deteriorating. The US semiconductor subsidy policy, which has unprecedented conditions, is also burdening our companies, and the United States has directly explained this problem.

Here's how our correspondent from Washington told us how.

<Reporter>
I visited foreign reporters to explain the
$390 billion and 51 trillion won semiconductor production subsidies from the US State Department.

First, in response to criticism that the subsidy conditions are excessive in Korea, Taiwan, and the European Union, which have semiconductor companies, he emphasized that the subsidies and related regulations apply equally to both U.S. and foreign companies.

[Lamine Tului/U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs: The U.S. Semiconductor Act's subsidy and related guidelines apply equally to U.S. companies and foreign companies.]

To our government's concern that excessive requirements could make it less attractive to invest in the United States, we responded by saying that there have been a number of substantial investment announcements from foreign companies over the past few months.

[Ramin Tului/U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs: The recent announcement of investment in the United States in a variety of fields, whether it is semiconductors or clean energy, demonstrates the attractiveness of the United States as an investment destination.]

Unlike the Inflation Reduction Act, which caused controversy over discrimination in EV subsidies due to provisions made in North America, the Semiconductor Law's restrictions on excess profit-sharing and investment in China apply to all domestic and foreign companies, with the intention of blocking discrimination controversy early and actively attracting investment.

The U.S. State Department also said that the Fab 4, a four-nation semiconductor consultative group between the United States and Taiwan, is intended to share policies of each country and wants to avoid competition for subsidies that do not help build a safe semiconductor supply chain.

(Video Interview: Oh Jeong-sik, Video Editing: Jung Yong-hwa)