South Korea's $200B US pledge starts with a Texas power plant

Most of the power is meant for artificial intelligence. The release says the plant will feed a privately developed data centre campus on the land next door, and send whatever's left over to the Texas grid. The developers say that fits the state's push for data centres to bring their own generation onto the ERCOT system, instead of leaning on the grid everyone else uses.

The timeline's long, but it's specific. Yonhap reported that Commerce's fact sheet puts first commercial operation in 2029 and full capacity in 2032. The developers also expect Korean companies' technology and supply chains to be part of the build.

Commerce kept its pitch simple. "The plan announced today will expand the stable power supply needed for AI and strategic industries, strengthen critical supply chains, and contribute to enhancing the energy, economic, and national security of both countries," the department said, Yonhap reported. Trump went bigger. "The natural gas power plant that will be constructed in Texas will be among the largest ever built anywhere in the world," he said in the Oval Office.

Eight reactors, still on paper

The second piece is called Project Power, and it carries the biggest number on the table. It's a plan for eight large nuclear plants. Two would be the Korean-designed APR1400 and six the US-designed AP1000. Yonhap reported that Commerce put the total at $120 billion. That's $100 billion in construction costs and $20 billion held back for contingencies.

There aren't any sites or dates yet. "The parties will develop and announce individual projects separately as sites, schedules, and commercial terms are finalized," the department said. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the plants would go up in states including Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky.

Seoul's take is more careful. SBS reported that Korea's government says only the Texas plant is confirmed to go ahead, and the reactors need more talks. The nuclear plan lands while Washington is already trying to speed up reactor approvals. We covered that when six nuclear permitting bills cleared committee without a single no vote, and when the White House set out its push to rebuild US nuclear power.

Alaska LNG: a start, not a cheque

The third piece, Project North, is the one that grabbed the headlines. It's the Alaska LNG project. That's an 807-mile pipeline, roughly 1,300 kilometres, running from the gas fields of the North Slope to an export terminal in southern Alaska. The gas would be chilled to liquid there and shipped to Asia. Alaskans have chased some version of this for decades.

"And at long last, Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline. That's a big one," Trump said. He said it would deliver "nearly 4 billion cubic feet of LNG per day," which works out to about 113 million cubic metres. Lutnick said more than $50 billion would go into the project. The Associated Press reported that officials said the pipeline would take three years to build, with exports starting two years after that. But that's only if the financing comes through in full. The developer, Glenfarne, had its chief executive in the room. So did Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, Senator Dan Sullivan and Representative Nick Begich.

What's actually on paper is narrower than the Oval Office pitch. Commerce's fact sheet says the "two countries have agreed to commence working on the Alaska LNG project, subject to meeting 'commercial reasonableness' under the Strategic Investment memorandum of understanding (MOU) and all applicable domestic legal requirements."

Seoul pushed back the next day. Korea's industry minister, Kim Jung-kwan, said he'd raised "a strong objection" with Lutnick over figures that went beyond what was agreed, SBS reported. "South Korea and the United States share the understanding that the Alaska project will not be pursued without commercial rationality," Kim said. He said Lutnick told him he understood Korea's concerns. President Lee Jae Myung wrote on X that the two sides "agreed to begin working on the Alaska LNG project on the conditions that, first, its commercial viability is confirmed and, second, it complies with Korea's legal procedures," in a translation by The Korea Times.

So Alaska's gone from a wish to a formal review with a named partner. That's real progress. It just isn't a final investment decision. It's also part of a wider shift on gas exports, which started when the Energy Department ended the pause on new LNG export approvals in January 2025.

How the money works

All of this comes out of the trade deal the two countries announced on 30 July 2025, and the investment memorandum they signed on 14 November that year. Korea pledged $350 billion in US investment. That's $150 billion for shipbuilding and $200 billion for strategic projects like these. In return, Washington cut its tariff on Korean goods, cars and parts included, from 25% to 15%.

Seoul built in some guard rails too. The Korea Times reported that the strategic money can't go over $20 billion a year or $200 billion in total. And it's paid out in stages as projects hit milestones, not handed over up front.

Trump spelled out the trade link himself. "For doing that, I reduced their tariffs to 15%. But they paid to get them reduced," he said. "And, part of that money is going into this project."

There was a political edge to it as well. The AP noted that Sullivan is in a tight re-election race against Democrat Mary Peltola, and that the event came two days after Trump announced a steel plant in Iowa, another state with a close Senate contest.

What happens next

For Texas, the next milestones are construction and first power in 2029. For the reactors, it's site-by-site announcements once the terms are settled. For Alaska, it's Korea's review, then the financing, then a final investment decision.

The White House has posted its own video from the Alaska announcement. The real test comes after that, when Korea decides whether the pipeline makes commercial sense.