Trump Asks Korea to Build 10 Warships, K-Shipbuilding Eyes US Navy

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

1. MASGA Sets Sail in Earnest… Hopes for US Warships Built in Ulsan, Geoje

- Key Summary: U.S. President Donald Trump publicly revealed his willingness to cooperate with Korean shipbuilders, directly asking President Lee Jae-myung at the Group of Seven (G7) summit, "Can you build 10 U.S. warships quickly?" The U.S. Department of Defense and Navy sent requests for information (RFI) related to combat ships and refueling vessels to the three shipbuilders — HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hanwha Ocean, and Samsung Heavy Industries — for the first time. After winning its first U.S. Navy logistics support ship maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) contract in 2024, Hanwha Ocean is undergoing procedures to obtain a warship construction license, while HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan shipyard has infrastructure capable of building up to seven warships using six special vessel docks and a ship lift. The U.S. Philly Shipyard, which Hanwha Ocean acquired for $100 million, plans to add two docks and three quays through a $5 billion investment, securing an annual production capacity of up to 20 vessels. Meanwhile, a Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation center is scheduled to open in Washington, D.C. on the 23rd of this month, with arrangements being made for Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to attend.

2. ASML Signals Price Hikes… Conflict Escalates With Top Customer TSMC

- Key Summary: Amid the fallout from the AI chip shortage, Netherlands-based ASML, which holds a monopoly in the semiconductor lithography equipment market, is pushing to raise prices for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography, deepening friction with TSMC, the world's largest foundry. ASML Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Roger Dassen said there is "considerable room for price increases," and has already notified Chinese chipmakers that it will raise DUV prices by 10 percent. China, unable to secure EUV due to U.S. export restrictions, is reported to have agreed to accept some of the price increases. TSMC, which holds 73 percent of the foundry market, is resisting, saying it is difficult to accept the price increases given its structure of widely using DUV in Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology. In response, ASML is pressuring TSMC by highlighting Intel's acceptance of High NA EUV equipment priced at over $400 million (about 594 billion won) per unit.

3. TSMC, With Profit Up 77%, to "Invest $100 Billion More in US"

- Key Summary: TSMC recorded second-quarter revenue of about 59 trillion won and net profit of about 33 trillion won, achieving results that exceeded market forecasts, with net profit surging 77 percent from a year earlier to continue double-digit growth for nine consecutive quarters. Advanced processes of 7 nanometers (nm; one-billionth of a meter) or less accounted for 77 percent of total wafer revenue, while the high-performance computing (HPC) segment, which includes AI chips, made up 66 percent of revenue, up 20 percent from the previous quarter. TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei announced that the company would invest an additional $100 billion (about 147.8 trillion won) in Arizona, sharply expanding total U.S. investment from the previous $165 billion to $265 billion, with this year's capital expenditure alone reaching about $56 billion (about 82.9 trillion won). Reuters reported that TSMC's market capitalization reached about $1.97 trillion (about 2,921 trillion won), roughly twice the level of rival Samsung Electronics (005930).

4. Government Unleashes 800 Trillion Won, BOK Tightens Money… Concerns Over Conflicting Prescriptions

- Key Summary: As the Bank of Korea raised its base rate for the first time in three years and six months, voices are raising concerns about discord with the government's fiscal policy, which has signaled a super budget of more than 800 trillion won next year. The Ministry of Planning and Budget decided to set next year's total expenditure at the "800 trillion won-plus" level, more than 10 percent higher than this year's main budget, citing AI and semiconductor investment, balanced regional growth, and responses to polarization as its main justifications. While this year's growth rate is projected to reach 3 percent on strong semiconductor exports, concerns are being raised that with domestic demand and the construction economy still sluggish, the rate hike could increase the interest burden on the self-employed and small and medium-sized enterprises, slowing the recovery of domestic demand. BOK Governor Hyun Song Shin, responding to points about the increased burden on vulnerable groups, said, "Rather than monetary policy, fiscal policy or financial policy that can produce selective effects is most appropriate."

5. Hyun Song Shin: "Rate Hikes Until Confident of 2% Inflation"… Year-End Rate Likely to Hit 3%

- Key Summary: Behind the Bank of Korea's move to raise its base rate for the first time in three and a half years lies the unstable trends of key macroeconomic indicators such as prices, exchange rates, housing prices, and household debt. At a press briefing, BOK Governor Hyun Song Shin said, "We must not overlook demand-side inflationary pressure," formalizing his intention to respond with additional rate hikes until the inflation rate, which has soared to the low-to-mid 3 percent range, converges to the 2 percent target. The BOK sees its 2.6 percent growth forecast presented in May being raised significantly on strong exports driven by the continuing semiconductor super-cycle, while most market experts project that the base rate will reach 3 percent by year-end with one additional hike in October, and that the terminal rate will reach around 3.25 percent in the first half of next year. With global credit rating agency Moody's also predicting one hike in the fourth quarter, next week's second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate and July consumer prices are expected to be key barometers for future monetary policy.

6. Corporate Insurance Blind Spots… Business Interruption Coverage Enrollment Rate Low at 18%

- Key Summary: An analysis of concentrated heavy rainfall from 2020 to 2024 by Seoul National University's Climate Tech Center and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (000810) found that the protection gap — the proportion of economic losses from concentrated heavy rain in Korea that was not covered by insurance — averaged 82 percent, higher than advanced countries such as Germany (72 percent). In Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance's analysis of comprehensive corporate insurance contracts over the past five years, coverage protecting against operating losses such as revenue decline and fixed-cost burdens when factory operations are suspended