South Korea and Taiwan said on Thursday that their leading chipmakers will not be hit by the 100% tariff on semiconductor imports that former US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose. Seoul’s trade minister Yeo Han-koo told local radio that Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. will be treated as most-favored-nation suppliers under a bilateral deal, sparing them from the punitive duty. Taiwan’s economics ministry issued a similar statement for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., citing the company’s ongoing investments in US fabrication plants. Trump has proposed levying the triple-digit tariff on chips produced in countries that neither manufacture nor plan to manufacture in the United States, though the policy has yet to be formally published. All three Asian firms have committed billions of dollars to US facilities: Samsung is building a second fab in Taylor, Texas, SK Hynix is developing an advanced-packaging and AI research campus in Indiana, and TSMC is constructing multiple fabs in Arizona. Those projects appear to satisfy Washington’s criteria for exemptions, according to the governments in Seoul and Taipei. Investors welcomed the clarity. Samsung gained 2.6% and SK Hynix added 0.6% in Seoul, while TSMC’s Taipei-listed shares rose to a record high; the Taiwan dollar strengthened 0.5% against the US currency. Nevertheless, analysts cautioned that the tariff framework remains undefined and that other chipmakers without US production plans could still face steep duties once the White House finalises the measure.