South Korea utility proposes Samsung pays $18 billion in advance for power, paper says

SEOUL – Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has proposed Samsung Electronics pay 20 trillion won (S$18.69 billion) in advance for power lasting until 2031 to help fund the expansion of its grid, the Chosun Ilbo reported on Sept 3.It has also proposed that SK Hynix pay five trillion won in advance, the newspaper said, citing an internal KEPCO document.State-run KEPCO, South Korea’s main utility, said in a statement it had suggested an advance payment scheme to major power users including Samsung and SK Hynix, but that participation, interest rates, payment amounts and payment periods had not been finalised.Samsung and SK Hynix declined to comment.KEPCO said the proposed arrangement was intended to help meet rising investment needs from semiconductor and AI data centre projects, while providing companies with more certainty over timely power supply for new factories.The utility would use the funds to build transmission and substation networks for chip fabs, while paying the companies interest above the yield on 2-year South Korean government bonds, according to the Chosun report. REUTERS