Requirement to accelerate expansion of storage production in the US; US Secretary of Commerce pressures Samsung and SK Hynix

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has publicly pressured Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, urging the two Korean memory chip giants to accelerate their production expansion in the U.S. in order to address the global memory chip shortage.

On July 10, according to Bloomberg, Lutnick made the remarks during an event hosted by Micron Technology and confirmed he has begun consultations with the two Korean companies, but did not disclose specific details. He made it clear that the goal is to bring Samsung and SK Hynix to set up factories in the U.S., to strengthen the resilience of the U.S. chip supply chain.

Meanwhile, Micron announced on the same day that it will increase its U.S. investment plans to a cumulative $250 billion by 2035, boosting Micron's stock price by over 9% at one point during the day; the stock has risen more than 250% so far this year.

This statement comes at a sensitive time. SK Hynix is preparing to list on a U.S. exchange, and its American Depositary Receipts (ADR) will begin trading this Friday (July 10). Based on the latest closing price in Seoul, the fundraising scale of this listing is close to $27 billion, with proceeds to be used for capacity expansion. Samsung and SK Hynix plan to invest $880 billion in the coming years for building new factories to meet the surging demand for AI-driven storage.

Pressuring Korean Giants to Strengthen the U.S. Supply Chain

According to reports, Lutnick gave his speech outside Micron's new facility near Syracuse, New York, explicitly naming Samsung and SK Hynix, stating he wants to bring these two competitors to build factories in the U.S.

He admitted that Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra may not be pleased with this, but emphasized that the strategic priority of supply chain security outweighs the commercial interests of any single company.

"He may not like it, but I want to bring his competitors—Samsung and SK Hynix—into the U.S. to build factories," Lutnick said. "Micron is ahead, others will be jealous, and they must keep up."

Reports noted that Micron announced its U.S. investment plan will be raised to a cumulative $250 billion by 2035, a significant increase from previous plans. Lutnick highly praised this move, saying the U.S. needs to protect quality firms investing in domestic intellectual property and expressed hope that Micron would "build as fast as possible."

Fueled by this news, Micron's stock price surged as much as 9.1% during trading, reaching $1,035.50 per share, with total gains exceeding 250% this year, ranking first among U.S. semiconductor peers.

The explosive growth in AI infrastructure construction has caused a global shortage of memory chips, affecting various downstream industries, including consumer electronics and automobile manufacturing. Apple recently raised prices across its entire Mac, iPad, home devices, and Vision Pro lines, attributing part of the increase to rising storage costs.

Analysts point out that, given this backdrop, Lutnick's pressure carries a stronger policy signal—the U.S. government is attempting to overhaul the structure of the memory chip supply chain by attracting foreign investment for factory construction while supporting domestic leaders, in order to reduce reliance on overseas production capacity.

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