"It takes huge amounts of pre-emptive investment to be a chipmaker, and it takes five years, 10 years to break even on those investments, so putting predictability into jeopardy makes investments difficult," an analyst said

Washington has asked Seoul to encourage Samsung and SK Hynix to hold back from boosting China sales if Micron is banned as a result of an ongoing investigation

The South Korean government and battery producers LG Energy Solution, Samsung and SK On will together invest in the next generation of power cells

Analysts say Samsung’s chip division likely reported quarterly losses of more than $2.3 billion due to falling memory chip prices and lower inventory values

The semiconductor sector’s troubles were also blamed for the decrease with the Asian powerhouse a major global tech player

Seoul reacts to proposed new limits for recipients of US chip manufacturing and research funding that includes restrictions on investments related to expansion in China and Russia

The investment is part of a 550 trillion won private-sector investment plan unveiled by the South Korea government to support high-tech sectors

Leading the sluggish trade performance in January were a 44.5% dive in semiconductor exports and a whopping 31% plunge in sales to China

Samsung’s plans have fanned concern that the world's biggest memory chipmaker intends to draw on its deep pockets to gain market share from smaller peers

The battery-maker aims to produce LFP batteries that can be made at lower cost, but deliver less range than comparable nickel-cobalt electric vehicle batteries