Union Law Fuels Fears Chip Plants Cannot Staff Skilled Engineers

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an artificial intelligence-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six news items tailored to each reader type.

1. Union Law Hampers Deployment of Skilled Engineers: "Honam Fab May Be Built but Cannot Run"

- Key summary: The Korea Enterprises Federation recently issued an official position through its "Business Community Proposals on Labor Issues," stating that the construction of new semiconductor plants in the Honam region and the deployment of personnel are not subjects of collective bargaining. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix (000660) are pursuing new semiconductor plants in Honam, with groundbreaking planned for July next year and completion targeted for 2029. For an advanced fab to operate normally, it is essential to bring in veteran engineers who have accumulated years of experience at existing plants in the greater Seoul area to stabilize initial yields, or the ratio of good products to total output. Until the law was revised in March this year, facility investment and personnel deployment were not subject to labor disputes, and the Supreme Court had regarded the construction of new plants as a high-level management decision. But that boundary collapsed once the revised Trade Union Act brought management decisions within the scope of labor disputes. Park Ji-soon, a professor at Korea University School of Law, said the new enforcement guidelines must state explicitly that reassignments tied to business expansion arising from new investment and new plant construction are clearly excluded from labor disputes.

2. LG (003550) to Build Chiller Plant in Virginia, Aiming to Lead AIDC Cooling Market

- Key summary: LG Electronics is moving to build a large-scale chiller production facility in Virginia to expand its heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) business, which is essential for AI data centers. The company is discussing plant site selection, investment incentives, tax benefits related to equipment purchases and corporate tax reductions tied to new hiring with the state government, and is said to be ready to accelerate construction once negotiations conclude. Northern Virginia is known as the "data center capital of the world," with AI infrastructure of major tech firms including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Google, Meta and Oracle concentrated in the area. LG Electronics is currently negotiating multiple chiller supply contracts with global Big Tech firms including Microsoft, and plans to target the AI data center cooling solutions market, which is expected to grow from $18.4 billion (about 26 trillion won) last year to $49.9 billion (about 70 trillion won) by 2034.

3. From Demands to Withdraw Sales to Interference in Executive Pay: "Administrative Guidelines Alone Cannot Prevent Confusion"

- Key summary: Since the Yellow Envelope Law took effect, union demands have expanded beyond wages and working conditions into the realm of management prerogatives. In July this year, the union at Kyungdong City Gas's customer service center staged a relay hunger strike demanding a halt to the prime contractor's planned sale of a stake in a subsidiary, and the main contract for the sale of Hyundai Mobis's (012330) lamp business division has been stalled for seven months amid labor-management conflict. The union at Wellive, a subcontractor of Hanwha Ocean (042660), demanded performance bonuses at the same level as those paid to prime contractor employees; outsourced call center workers at the National Tax Service demanded direct hiring; and the union at Kakao (035720) included in its demands the disclosure of criteria for calculating executive compensation and prior consultation on organizational restructuring and asset sales. The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to announce enforcement guidelines specifying the scope of labor disputes as early as early next month, but because they are administrative guidelines without legal force rather than a presidential decree, questions remain over their effectiveness.

4. Warnings of September Turmoil in Advanced-Economy Bonds: Is Korea Prepared?

- Key summary: International finance experts continue to warn that the next major financial shock is likely to originate in the government bond markets of advanced economies. In the United States, where national debt has topped $40 trillion for the first time, the fiscal deficit in the second quarter stood at 5.7% on a trailing 12-month basis, worse than 5.2% in the first quarter, and the 30-year Treasury yield has turned higher again after reaching its highest level in 19 years, since 2007. Japan's 10-year government bond yield is approaching 3%, the highest since 1996, while France's 10-year yield has climbed to 4.1%, above levels seen during the eurozone fiscal crisis. Separately, Bank of America (BofA) projected that U.S. investment-grade corporate bond issuance will reach a record $2.1 trillion this year, driven by financing for AI investment centered on hyperscalers, or large data center operators.

5. Koo Kwang-mo's "Selection and Focus" Bears Fruit as HVAC, Auto Parts Earnings Soar

- Key summary: LG Group's strategy of reorganizing consumer-oriented (B2C) businesses toward high-value business-to-business (B2B) operations, pursued since Chairman Kwang-mo Koo took office, is showing up in earnings. LG Electronics posted second-quarter consolidated revenue of 23.8297 trillion won and operating profit of 1.5788 trillion won, up about 15% and 147% respectively from a year earlier, both records for a second quarter, while cumulative first-half operating profit surpassed 3 trillion won. The key driver was the HVAC business. Last month, LG Electronics became the first Korean company to obtain Nvidia quality certification for 600-kilowatt-class liquid coolant distribution units (CDUs) for data centers. Koo also visited Nvidia's headquarters on the 13th and, according to sources, firmed up plans with Chief Executive Jensen Huang to jointly develop and unveil a next-generation humanoid robot within next year.

6. Korea Zinc (010130) Advances Future Businesses Despite Control Dispute

- Key summary: Korea Zinc is putting "Project Crucible," a joint effort with the U.S. government, on track despite an ongoing dispute over management control. The company is building an integrated smelter in Tennessee with a total investment of $7.4 billion (about 11 trillion won) alongside the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Commerce, and plans to produce 13 types of non-ferrous metals, including 11 designated by the U.S. government as critical minerals for national security, as well as sulfuric acid for semiconductors. To stabilize critical mineral supply chains, the U.S. government acquired a 10.6% stake in Korea Zinc through a joint venture, and both Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and President Donald Trump have referred to the project directly. Korea Zinc Chairman Choi Yoon-birm and executives of its Australian subsidiary are said to have been invited to a "critical minerals roundtable" to be held in Washington on the 2nd of next month, prompting expectations that early-stage financing for an Australian smelter project will be discussed.