Korea actually invested in building indigenous and domestic capacity in software and hardware since the 1990s, and rapidly expanded financing+subsidizes along with tech export promotion in the 2000s and 2010s while much of the EU fell under severe austerity and financialized much of it's R&D capacity. Furthermore, Korean companies like Samsung Group, LG Group, SK Group, and Hyundai Group spent tens of billions building R&D capacity and conducting tech transfers with American partners in order to build a much more balanced economic partnership.
Samsung Group, SK Group, LG Group, Hyundai Group, and Naver Group all built domestic capacity across both the software and hardware stack with Korea, and can decouple from the American ecosystem worst comes to worst because they have built a strong ecosystem across Japan, ASEAN, China, and India.
European countries never did the same. There is no domestic equivalent within Europe (and no, ASML does not count - all their bleeding were EUV work is done in the US via a JV with the DoE). In chips alone, Infineon, NXP (which is largely Motorola), and ST Micro are all heavily dependent on US capacity, and their niche in analog and power chips has largely been commodified by Asian players like Samsung Group, Hyundai Group, and SK Group. This can also be seen with CHIPS and IRA disbursements - Samsung and LG have been the biggest beneficiaries of the former and latter, and Naver has been leading US-SK trade negotiations with Trump Jr which lead to automotive being impacted but electronics largely unscathe.
South Korea also allows a level of market consolidation and oligopoly power that would violate European regulations.
Furthermore, SK can always dangle the China-SK-JP trilateral FTA to force the US into a more equal bargain, while dangling enhanced military cooperation with the US, Philippines, and Taiwan to force China to negotiate. The EU cannot offer the same because it is faced with Russia on it's eastern border, and thus cannot use China as a bulwark against the US.
Europe is decades behind Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, let alone the US or China
Samsung Group, SK Group, LG Group, Hyundai Group, and Naver Group all built domestic capacity across both the software and hardware stack with Korea, and can decouple from the American ecosystem worst comes to worst because they have built a strong ecosystem across Japan, ASEAN, China, and India.
European countries never did the same. There is no domestic equivalent within Europe (and no, ASML does not count - all their bleeding were EUV work is done in the US via a JV with the DoE). In chips alone, Infineon, NXP (which is largely Motorola), and ST Micro are all heavily dependent on US capacity, and their niche in analog and power chips has largely been commodified by Asian players like Samsung Group, Hyundai Group, and SK Group. This can also be seen with CHIPS and IRA disbursements - Samsung and LG have been the biggest beneficiaries of the former and latter, and Naver has been leading US-SK trade negotiations with Trump Jr which lead to automotive being impacted but electronics largely unscathe.
South Korea also allows a level of market consolidation and oligopoly power that would violate European regulations.
Furthermore, SK can always dangle the China-SK-JP trilateral FTA to force the US into a more equal bargain, while dangling enhanced military cooperation with the US, Philippines, and Taiwan to force China to negotiate. The EU cannot offer the same because it is faced with Russia on it's eastern border, and thus cannot use China as a bulwark against the US.
Europe is decades behind Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, let alone the US or China