South Korean giant SK Group is pouring $22 billion into the United States

The funding announcement comes just as the group’s massive chipmaking unit warned of weaker consumer demand for technology products for the rest of the year. It also coincided with a Biden, who participated in the meeting virtually from the White House residence after testing positive for Covid-19 last week, acknowledged the irony of welcoming guests from South Korea while he was isolating mere yards away.”I feel so badly — I’m so close to you,” he told the SK delegation, later posting a shot on social media of him waving from a balcony.SK Group had already earlier this year committed $30 billion in the United States by the end of 2025. Biden and Chey said Tuesday that the new investment was on top of that.The news came as SK Hynix, the group’s chipmaking unit, warned Wednesday that it expected sales of some electronics to drop in the coming months.While the company enjoyed strong sales in the second quarter — with its revenue reaching a record high — it anticipates a slowdown in demand for memory chips in the second half of the year.That’s because shipments of PCs and smartphones that use those components could be “lower than initially predicted,” SK Hynix said in a statement during its earnings presentation. The company is the world’s second biggest flash memory chipmaker and a supplier to Apple (AAPL), among other brands.— CNN’s Donald Judd contributed to this report.