[Anchor]

We need to carefully examine whether the Democratic Party's victory will turn out to be a nightmare or an opportunity for our companies and economy. Fortunes appear to be diverging depending on the industry.

Reporter Choi Seung-hun takes a closer look.

[Reporter]

Texas is projected to become the largest region, accounting for 30% of the electricity used by all data centers across the United States by the year after next.

However, the newly elected Democratic governor has vowed to halt all data center construction immediately upon taking office.

[Gina Hinojosa / Governor-elect of Texas, U.S.: We will halt all data center approvals until laws are in place to protect residents.]

This is because complaints have been persistent that each data center devours massive amounts of electricity equivalent to what a small town would use, and that residents would end up sharing the costs of expanding power plants and transmission grids through their electricity bills.

[Cyrus Reed / Texas Environmental Campaign Activist (March): Corporate lobbyists are pushing hard to ensure that companies do not pay their fair share.]

Similar movements are taking place across the United States.

Among the 36 candidates who have been elected governor or are leading in the vote counts, 34 supported data center regulations, and 12 made campaign promises to completely halt construction.

Analyses suggest that the construction of around 1,000 data centers nationwide could be suspended or delayed.

If so, ripples could reach domestic companies supplying semiconductors, such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, as well as other domestic firms providing electrical equipment.

[Lee Jun / Director, Strategic Industry Research Center, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade: Supply and demand could loosen up a bit. Prices would naturally drop, which would impact profitability. That is the scenario we are most concerned about.]

On the other hand, domestic automotive companies such as Hyundai Motor and Kia are pinning their hopes on the momentum to revive electric vehicle purchase subsidies, which has been led by Democratic lawmakers.

KOTRA forecasted that the power and shipbuilding sectors could also present opportunities for us, as both the Democratic and Republican parties have a strong willingness to foster them.

(Video Editing: Lee So-young, Design: Park Tae-young, Screen Source: Climate Justice Alliance, X @Gina Hinojosa)