US, Samsung Semiconductor Subsidies Cut 26%...Did Trump play a role?

Samsung's Investment Scale Down by 16%...26% reduction in US subsidies
Possibility of acting as a Situation Variable Ahead of Trump's inauguration

[Anchor]
Ahead of the end of his term, the Biden administration has decided to provide subsidies of 6.9 trillion won to Samsung Electronics, which is building a semiconductor plant in Texas.

The subsidy was reduced by about a quarter compared to the preliminary contract in April, raising the possibility that Trump was conscious of the negative semiconductor subsidies.

This is Washington correspondent Kwon Jun-ki.

[Reporter]
The U.S. Department of Commerce has finally decided to provide 6.9 trillion won in semiconductor subsidies to Samsung Electronics.

It decreased by 2.3 trillion won and 26% from 9.2 trillion won to be given when signing a preliminary contract in April.

Initially, the third-largest amount of funding was expected after Intel and TSMC, but it was pushed back to fourth after Micron.

[Jina Rermondo / U.S. Secretary of Commerce (last 8th): TSMC, which makes cutting-edge semiconductors, is now producing on U.S. soil. We will also be making investments with Samsung. We have attracted such a variety of companies.]

Samsung Electronics' support fund was cut because it reduced its investment size to $37 billion from its original plan to invest $44 billion.

The fact that investment was reduced by 16% but subsidies fell by 26% is an observation that Trump's inauguration next month may have been a variable.

Trump has strongly criticized Biden's subsidy policy, saying higher tariffs would allow foreign companies to invest in the U.S. on their own.

[Donald Trump / President-elect (last October): (Biden's) semiconductor policy is very bad. It's spent billions of dollars trying to get rich companies to come to the United States. They won't give us a good company anyway. All we have to do is put tariffs on it.]

However, in terms of the ratio of subsidies to investment, Samsung Electronics is the highest among the five major semiconductor companies at 12.7%.

A U.S. Commerce Department spokesperson said the reduction in subsidies for Samsung was a change in line with the market environment and the scope of the company's investment.

This is YTN Kwon Jun-ki from Washington.