Lee Jae-Myung, a candidate for president of South Korea, promises a tax credit for the chip industry

South Korean presidential candidate Lee Jae-Myung promises to provide tax breaks to support the chip sector.

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of South Korea, promised on Monday in a Facebook post that if elected, he will implement a production tax credit of up to 10% for semiconductors made and sold locally.

With worries about the effects of changes in US policy, Lee, who is presently leading opinion polls ahead of the June 3 election, is following other nations’ similar actions to fortify their own semiconductor industry and safeguard supply networks.

In an executive order last month, US President Donald Trump created a new organization to manage the CHIPS Act initiative, which aims to boost corporate investment in the US. In August 2022, former President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS Act, which aimed to encourage semiconductor manufacturing in the United States. Trump has often criticized this legislation.