South Korea is planning to announce a huge new energy deal with the United States. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal published Thursday, the deal could be worth more than 100 billion dollars. The goal of the deal is to help power America’s fast-growing artificial intelligence industry.
Under the plan, South Korea would pay to help build up to eight new nuclear power plants in the United States. The deal would also include a separate natural gas project. People involved in the discussions shared these details on Thursday.
South Korea’s trade ministry said the deal has not been finalized yet. The U.S. Commerce Department and the White House had not given any response at the time. Because the news was reported after regular office hours.
The latest deal is part of a trade agreement signed last October by US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. Under that agreement, South Korea promised to invest $350 billion in U.S. manufacturing projects. In return, the U.S. agreed to limit tariffs on goods from South Korea to 15%, lowering them from the previous higher rate.
South Korea has made slow progress on its promised investment since the agreement was signed. Those delays frustrated Trump earlier this year, and he threatened to raise tariffs on Korea again if the progress remained slow.
The Wall Street Journal reported that South Korea plans to invest the money over several years instead of spending it all at once. Other reports show that officials could announce the energy deal next week.
The first nuclear reactors built under this plan would use a design from Westinghouse Electric, an American company. Later reactors could switch to using South Korea’s own reactor design made by a company called KEPCO possibly including a model called the APR1400.
One part of the deal already looks close to finished. South Korea plans to invest around 20 to 22 billion dollars into a natural gas power plant in Encinal, Texas. All of the electricity from that plant would go toward powering AI data centers, which use huge amounts of energy to run their computer systems.
If South Korea moves ahead with all eight nuclear reactors, the investment could reach $120 billion. That amount would cover a significant part of the $350 billion investment agreement.
Reports of the possible agreement quickly affected South Korea’s stock market. Shares of nuclear power companies rose after news of the plan was reported. However, the deal has not been finalized and analysts said investors should remain careful until the details are officially confirmed.
The agreement comes as South Korea’s demand for electricity continues to grow. Samsung and SK Hynix are planning a huge semiconductor expansion worth about $590 billion. Energy minister of South Korea, Kim Sung-whan said AI-related projects could increase South Korea’s power needs by another 25 to 30 gigawatts in the coming years.
Both governments now face pressure to turn this plan into real working power plants, as the growing AI industry continues to drive up electricity demand around the world.
