South Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said on Thursday that the government will keep monitoring developments on U.S. tariffs on certain AI semiconductor chips to minimise the impact on local industries, according to a ministry statement. The ministry met with officials from South Korean semiconductor companies to discuss how to cope with the 25% tariff imposed on some advanced chips announced by the White House on Wednesday, a second statement said. The officials said that since the tariffs will not apply to chips for U.S. data centres and startups, it would not have a significant impact on Korean companies, according to the ministry.