South Korea's industry ministry and SoftBank Group Corp.’s (OTC: SFTBY) (OTC: SFTBF) chip unit, Arm Holdings Plc (NASDAQ: ARM), signed an agreement to boost the country's semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors, a presidential policy adviser announced Friday.
Under the memorandum of understanding, Arm will establish a chip design school in South Korea to leverage its expertise, official Kim Yong-beom told reporters.
The program aims to train roughly 1,400 high-level chip design specialists, strengthening the country's relatively weak system-semiconductor and fabless segments, Reuters reported Friday.
South Korea, U.S. Tariffs: What’s Going On?
South Korea’s geopolitical tensions eased with the U.S. following a tariff rate cut.
In December, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that the U.S. has cut its general tariff rate on imports from South Korea — including autos — to 15%, activating key provisions of the countries' trade deal after Seoul moved forward with its strategic-investment legislation.
The tariff cut, retroactive to Nov. 1, 2025, aligns Korea's reciprocal rates with those of Japan and the EU and removes U.S. duties on airplane parts.
South Korea's ruling party introduced legislation to honor its $350 billion investment pledge in U.S. sectors such as shipbuilding, a move Lutnick said strengthens mutual trust and deepens the economic partnership supporting U.S. industry and jobs.
The U.S. had previously imposed a 25% tariff on South Korean imports, including Section 232 national-security auto duties and reciprocal tariffs under IEEPA.
In October, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) Amazon Web Services committed to invest at least $5 billion in South Korea by 2031 to build new AI data centers, AWS CEO Matt Garman announced alongside President Lee at the APEC 2025 summit.
AWS will place the facilities on Seoul's outskirts and fold the investment into a broader $40 billion plan spanning 14 non-U.S. APEC economies through 2028 — a move Garman said will add $45 billion to U.S. GDP and deliver wider regional gains.
Amazon joins six other companies pledging a combined $9 billion over five years as South Korea doubles down on AI infrastructure.
Amazon’s move followed Alibaba Group Holding‘s second Korean data center and OpenAI's partnership with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to build a dedicated AI facility.