AUBURN -- US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo made a joint visit to the factory of a South Korean semiconductor material producer on Wednesday, highlighting their emphasis on cooperation for supply chain resiliency.
The rare trip to the SK Siltron CSS factory in Auburn, Michigan, a city with a population of only about 2,100, came on the day after the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the South Korea-US free trade agreement (KORUS FTA).
SK Siltron CSS is the American branch of SK Siltron under South Korea's SK Group.
The company produces silicon carbide (SiC) wafers, next-generation semiconductor material that enables the production of lighter, smaller but more efficient semiconductors.
"I'm particularly excited to learn that SK will be investing $300 million in Bay County over the next several years, which will double the number of people employed here in the state by SK, and increase our collective semiconductor production capacity," USTR Tai said.
"This partnership between our two countries is an excellent example of how we can harness the innovation and talent of our citizens to create a cleaner, more sustainable economy while also creating good paying jobs along the way," she added.
SK Group, run by Chey Tae-won, purchased the Auburn plant from Dow Dupont in 2020 for $450 million.
SK Group has since committed an additional $300-million investment to build a second production facility in nearby Bay City, which is expected to begin operations later this year, according to company officials.
The SK Siltron facility in Bay City is expected to boost the company's production capacity in Michigan by up to four times from the current level once it becomes fully operational in 2025, they said.
"Ambassador Tai and I agree that the SK Citroen factories here in Michigan best represent the future of our bilateral economic alliance, the next chapter in mobility here at the birthplace of automobile manufacturing," Yeo said.
Officials from SK Siltron CSS said semiconductors made from SiC wafers can help electric vehicles charge by up to 75 percent faster while also increasing the travel distance of the cars by up to 7.5 percent.
Following its monthslong global review, the US Department of Commerce said in January that the global shortage of semiconductors was partly caused by a lack of wafer production capacity.
"The primary bottleneck across the board appears to be wafer production capacity, which requires a longer-term solution," the department had said.
Speaking in a seminar in Washington on Monday, Yeo underscored the need for the US and South Korea to continue expanding their bilateral economic cooperation in areas including supply chains and emerging technologies.
"Now, it is high time to plan ahead the future of KORUS FTA for the next 10 years," he said.
"That is why last November during the KORUS joint committee, headed jointly by myself and USTR Katherine Tai in Seoul, we agreed to continue to develop this trade relationship in a future-oriented approach, initiating new enhanced channels of communication to efficiently effectively address emerging trade issues in areas such as supply chain resilience, emerging technologies, and the digital ecosystem and trade facilitation," added Yeo. (Yonhap)
