Key points:

  • A stake in Samsung Electronics, amounting to about 5.25 million units, was sold for $326 million.
  • The sale price was 84,100 won per unit, down 0.47% from Samsung Electronics’s closing price on Monday.
  • The United States will provide Samsung with a $6.6 billion grant to expand semiconductor chip production in the United States.

Samsung Electronics’ stake of about 5.25 million shares was valued at 441 billion Korean won ($326 million).

The stock’s valuation was 84,100 won per unit, down 0.47% from Samsung Electronics’ Monday closing price of 84,500.

Why did the sale take place?

Media reported that the shares included in the package were sold by Lee Bu-jin, the sister of Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Lee.

This deal is the second in recent months. In January 2024, Lee Bu-jin, her mother and sister had already sold a 0.5% stake in Samsung Electronics worth 2.17 trillion won (US$1.6 billion). The purpose of the sale was to raise funds to pay in installments the billions of dollars of inheritance taxes following the death of Samsung patriarch Lee Gun Hee in 2020.

The US will provide Samsung with a subsidy of up to $6.6 billion

Meanwhile, as part of a strategy to increase the production of semiconductor chips in the United States, the American government intends to provide the South Korean company Samsung with a grant of more than $6 billion.

This grant will fund the construction of four facilities in Taylor, Texas. These will include a $17 billion chip plant that Samsung announced plans to build in 2021, as well as another plant, a state-of-the-art chip packaging facility and a research and development center.

The planned grant will be Samsung’s third largest to support US semiconductor chip manufacturing. Earlier on Monday, $6.6 billion was allocated to Taiwanese company TSMC, which in response agreed to expand its investment by $25 billion, bringing it to $65 billion, and build a third plant in Arizona by 2030.

Samsung’s grant announcement is expected to be the latest in a series of major grants aimed at boosting the chip and science industries in the United States. The purpose of these investments is to expand domestic semiconductor production and raise capital that could be used to build factories in China and other countries in the region.