US President Joe Biden visited a Korean factory in the US for the first time since taking office on the 29th, local time, and emphasized economic achievements such as investment expansion and job creation under legislation such as the Semiconductor Support Act.



President Biden visited the SK Siltron CSS factory in Bay City, Michigan during the day and toured the factory and gave a speech about his economic performance.



SK Siltron CSS, a US subsidiary of SK Siltron, is a company that produces silicon carbide (SiC, silicon carbide) wafers, a key material for next-generation power semiconductors.



SiC wafers are used for electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS), and Bay City and Urban factories in Michigan are considered a symbol of semiconductor cooperation between Korea and the United States.



Earlier, Catherine Tai, the head of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), visited Yeo Han-gu, head of the Trade Office, in March.



After visiting the factory, President Biden moved to a separate venue to give a speech.



Hundreds of elected officials, union representatives, SK Siltron CSS employees, and others were seated at the venue under the slogan of 'Rebuilding a Better America'.



SK personnel, including Choi Jae-won, senior vice chairman of SK On, also attended.



President Biden began his speech by saying, “I want to thank the SK Siltron CSS leaders,” and “they will create a lot of well-paid jobs here.”



Then, after SK Chairman Chey Tae-won said in a meeting with the White House in July that he promised an investment of 50 billion dollars (about 66 trillion won), he said, "Part of the investment comes here to Bay City to produce small semiconductor chips that enable everyday life. "he said.



At the same time, it was evaluated as a "game changer" after emphasizing achievements such as restoring the US's own semiconductor supply chain and creating jobs.



President Biden then emphasized the economic performance of major legislation, saying, “Semiconductor companies will invest hundreds of billions of dollars over the next 10 years,” and “other parts of the supply chain will also return to the United States.”



In the process, lower oil prices, slowing inflation, and job creation in the manufacturing industry were also highlighted as achievements, and "exceptional progress has been made over the past two years."



(Photo = AP, Yonhap News)