韩国半导体生产税抵免或难惠及三星电子和SK海力士，潜在利好转向本土半导体材料设备企业

As the government introduces a domestic production tax credit for semiconductors and power infrastructure—dubbed the "Korean Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)"—the benefits are expected to be difficult to apply to export-focused Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK hynix (000660.KS), and instead concentrated on domestic market-oriented materials, parts, and equipment (MPE) companies.
According to the industry on the 4th, the prevailing analysis is that the effectiveness of the system for large companies leading memory chip exports is low, due to the credit's key conditions of "domestic production and domestic sales" and the clause excluding overlapping application with the investment tax credit.
First, large companies find it difficult to clear the "domestic sales" threshold. Domestic memory chip manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix export more than 90% of their total production volume overseas. "Given the memory chip business structure, in which exports account for an absolute majority, the tax reduction effect from this production tax credit—which grants benefits only for domestic sales—is minimal," an industry official said.
Some urge caution, noting that the specific semiconductor items eligible for the tax credit have not yet been finalized, so the detailed enforcement decree announcement must be watched. However, the industry agrees that large companies have little incentive to participate because of the clause barring overlapping credits. The government restricts products manufactured at facilities that received the existing "integrated investment tax credit"—which carries a larger credit scale—from also receiving this production tax credit.
"Samsung and SK must carry out large-scale facility investments worth hundreds of trillions of won over the coming years, including building the Yongin semiconductor mega cluster," another industry official noted. "Rather than the production tax credit, which offers narrow benefit potential, choosing the existing investment tax credit—which applies a high credit rate (15–25%) to the investment amount itself—is a far more advantageous option from a corporate standpoint."
However, the domestic production tax credit is expected to be a significant help to MPE companies, which form the backbone of the domestic semiconductor ecosystem. For MPE companies, securing a stable supply chain takes priority over large-scale line investments. Moreover, because they count domestic large companies as their main customers, they can more easily meet the requirements for this tax benefit.
"Domestic market-oriented MPE companies that produce parts and equipment in Korea and supply them to large companies will perfectly satisfy the 'domestic production and domestic sales' conditions and receive real tax benefits," an industry official said. "The key will be how broadly the core MPE items are included in the enforcement decree to be announced going forward."