South Korea will expand high-level communication with the United States to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in ensuring stable semiconductor supply chains, the Seoul government said Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs Hong Nam-ki led a meeting on economic security, a day before the deadline by which the U.S. government asked global semiconductor manufacturers to submit information to help address global chip shortages.

“After the deadline for the submission of information, we plan to further solidify the South Korea-U.S. partnership for cooperation on the semiconductor supply chains through high-level communication with the U.S.‘ side,” the government said following the meeting.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s request for information has triggered concerns among global chip makers, as the provision of some information could amount to a disclosure of their trade secrets. (Yonhap)