On August 18, South Korea refuted reports suggesting that chips would be its inaugural investment project in the United States. The South Korean presidential office clarified on Tuesday that the assertion, which stated that the two nations were considering semiconductors as a potential candidate for their first strategic investment initiative, was unfounded. Moreover, the office did not reveal any specifics about the ongoing negotiations between Seoul and Washington concerning the investment pledge. Earlier, the JoongAng Ilbo had reported that South Korea had intended to unveil its first investment project later in the month. However, this plan was thrown into uncertainty due to Washington's unexpected push for investment in U.S. memory chip facilities. According to the report, this demand became a central topic of discussion during a closed-door trade meeting held at the presidential office on August 13. Initially, South Korea had earmarked the energy sector as its primary focus for its first significant investment in the U.S. Officials present at the meeting generally concurred that investing in U.S. memory chip factories was not a feasible option, given that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix had already pledged at least $88 billion (not $880 billion, corrected for accuracy) towards the construction of chips and data centers.