South Korea to keep monitoring US chip tariffs to minimise impact, industry minister says

SEOUL, Jan 15 (Reuters) – South Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said on ​Thursday that the government will ‌keep monitoring developments on U.S. tariffs on certain AI ‌semiconductor chips to minimise the impact on local industries, according to a ministry statement.

The ministry met with officials from ⁠South Korean semiconductor ‌companies to discuss how to cope with the 25% tariff ‍imposed on some advanced chips announced by the White House on Wednesday, a second statement ​said.

The officials said that since the ‌tariffs will not apply to chips for U.S. data centres and startups, it would not have a significant impact on Korean companies, according to the ministry.

The ⁠companies noted, however, that ​a White House fact ​sheet indicated that President Donald Trump may impose broader tariffs on ‍imports of ⁠semiconductors and their derivative products to incentivise domestic manufacturing, which would create ⁠significant uncertainty for the industry, the statement said.

(Reporting ‌by Heejin Kim and Heekyong YangEditing ‌by Ed Davies)