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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics and other major South Korean companies on Sunday announced fresh domestic investment plans at a meeting with President Lee Jae Myung, who hopes the moves will counter concerns that the firms would prioritize U.S. investments under a trade deal.

Lee’s meeting with business leaders came days after his government finalized a trade deal with the United States, in which Seoul pledged to invest $350 billion in U.S. industries in exchange for averting the Trump administration’s highest tariffs.

Samsung, a global leader in computer chips, said it will invest 450 trillion won ($310 billion) over the next five years to expand its domestic operations, including building another production line at its Pyeongtaek manufacturing hub to meet surging global semiconductor demands fueled by artificial intelligence.

Samsung said the new line, set to begin operations in 2028, is part of its broader effort to secure additional production capacity in anticipation of rising mid- to long-term demands for memory chips. The company also plans to build AI data centers in the country’s southwest South Jeolla Province and the southeastern city of Gumi to support government efforts to reduce the development gap between the greater Seoul metropolitan area and other regions.

Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s largest automaker, said it plans to invest 125 trillion won ($86.3 billion) from 2026 to 2030 to expand domestic research and development and advance new technologies such as AI, robotics and self-driving cars.

SK Group, another semiconductor powerhouse, and shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai also announced plans to increase their domestic investments. Both are central to South Korean commitments to boost the U.S. shipbuilding industry, a sector highlighted by President Donald Trump in negotiations with Seoul.

In his meeting with the companies’ chiefs, Lee credited the business sector for helping his government negotiate the trade deal with Washington but urged the companies to maintain strong domestic investments to ease concerns they might cut spending at home to invest more in America. He said his government is exploring various policy steps, including easing regulations, to help create a more favorable business environment for the companies.

SK Chair Chey Tae-won, whose group plans to invest at least 128 trillion won ($88.3 billion) domestically through 2028 with a focus on AI, said the finalization of trade talks with the United States eases uncertainties and paves way for bolder domestic investment.

The two governments on Friday released the details of the trade agreement, including $150 billion in South Korean investments in the U.S. shipbuilding sector and an additional $200 billion in other American industries, which Seoul says will be capped at $20 billion per year to prevent financial instability.

The United States agreed to reduce tariffs on South Korean cars and auto parts from 25% to 15%, and to apply tariffs on South Korean semiconductors on terms “no less favorable” than those granted to comparable competitors in the future.

ZAGREB, Croatia, Nov. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — UPAD, the progressive, fintech-driven ticketing infrastructure startup, has deployed “Rakija Pit”, a culturally-coded anti-automation signal created to identify and quarantine bots during high-demand ticket launches.

Rakija Gate was activated for the first time ever during the New Year’s Eve sale for the biggest young regional singer Aleksandra Prijović, organised by Extra FM, drawing the highest complexities of bot traffic the region has ever recorded.

Within minutes, UPAD’s behaviour engine detected machine-generated purchase patterns far above normal thresholds. Instead of allowing automated sessions to compete with real fans, suspicious traffic was routed into a separate quarantine lane – an internal mechanism the engineering team calls the Rakija Pit. It’s where automated sessions can dance as long as they want – but they never reach checkout. Meanwhile, real fans keep moving forward.

The name reflects a piece of shared Balkan humour:

only real humans survive rakija – automated systems don’t stand a chance.

It’s where automated sessions can dance as long as they want — but they never reach checkout. Meanwhile, real fans keep moving forward.

Behind the jokes sits a tech-forward layer of infrastructural logic more commonly found in modern fintech than in regional ticketing.

While most platforms in the EU treat bot traffic as an inevitable nuisance, UPAD is positioning Rakija Pit as part of a new integrity layer for live-event access. As Balkan markets begin mirroring global demand waves, UPAD sees infrastructural fairness as essential.

To set a new standard for transparency, UPAD will publish a public Event Digest, including anonymized metrics such as queue composition, purchase success rates, anomaly quarantines, and overall integrity scores.

“This is what artists, organisers, and fans deserve,” said M.M. “Not mystery. Not speculation. Actual numbers. Actual fairness. Actual presence.”

upad.hr

About UPAD

UPAD is a fast-growing ticketing infrastructure company building the technological backbone for fair, transparent live experiences across the Balkans and beyond. UPAD combines modern seat architecture, behaviour-scoring, and presence-tracking layers to protect artists and fans from automated interference. With a visual language inspired by minimal systems design and a philosophy built around Be Present, UPAD aims to elevate how live events are sold, measured, and experienced.

More: upad.hr

Press Contact

UPAD d.o.o.
info@upad.hr
upad.hr

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9f1569d5-c7eb-41e6-829e-377230598c64