Korean makers should avoid falling victim to US-China fight
As the United States and China vie to dominate the global semiconductor market, Korean chipmakers are likely to suffer collateral damage.
The Chinese government said last Friday that it had made significant progress in its antitrust probes into two Korean and one U.S. semiconductor maker ― Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron Technology. Officials there launched the investigation into these companies in May, but this was the first time Beijing formally acknowledged its action.
These inquiries started after Chinese makers of smartphones complained about price hikes and supply shortages for memory chips. Behind them, however, is Beijing's ambition to develop its semiconductor industry and U.S. attempts to keep this in check.
China has been pushing its "Made in China 2025" program, aimed at localizing 70 percent of core technology and parts with a focus on semiconductors. According to the plan, three Chinese chipmakers ― Jin Hua Integrated Circuit Co. (JHICC), Changjiang Memory and Hefei Changxin ― were scheduled to enter into the mass production of DRAMs next year.
The U.S. Department of Commerce, however, put the brakes on this by banning exports of equipment and material to JHICC in October. In April, the U.S. also imposed a seven-year trading ban on ZTE Corp., a Chinese communication equipment maker, for its alleged transactions with North Korean and Iranian companies. Washington later lifted the ban but not until it slapped the Chinese company with a $1 billion fine.
Beijing's antitrust investigations are a counterattack of sorts mainly targeting Micron. However, Korean semiconductor makers will likely suffer much more damage than the U.S. firm if China goes ahead with trade retaliation, as they supplied 52.3 percent of China's imports of memory chips last year. As Beijing will want to avoid exacerbating its trade war with Washington, the Korean companies could emerge as scapegoats.
Korea has been bracing for collateral damage from the ongoing trade confrontation because of its high export dependency on the world's two largest economies, but hardly expected sparks to fly this way. Policymakers and businesspeople should do their best to keep local semiconductor manufacturers from getting caught in the crossfire.
As the United States and China vie to dominate the global semiconductor market, Korean chipmakers are likely to suffer collateral damage.
The Chinese government said last Friday that it had made significant progress in its antitrust probes into two Korean and one U.S. semiconductor maker ― Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron Technology. Officials there launched the investigation into these companies in May, but this was the first time Beijing formally acknowledged its action.
These inquiries started after Chinese makers of smartphones complained about price hikes and supply shortages for memory chips. Behind them, however, is Beijing's ambition to develop its semiconductor industry and U.S. attempts to keep this in check.
China has been pushing its "Made in China 2025" program, aimed at localizing 70 percent of core technology and parts with a focus on semiconductors. According to the plan, three Chinese chipmakers ― Jin Hua Integrated Circuit Co. (JHICC), Changjiang Memory and Hefei Changxin ― were scheduled to enter into the mass production of DRAMs next year.
The U.S. Department of Commerce, however, put the brakes on this by banning exports of equipment and material to JHICC in October. In April, the U.S. also imposed a seven-year trading ban on ZTE Corp., a Chinese communication equipment maker, for its alleged transactions with North Korean and Iranian companies. Washington later lifted the ban but not until it slapped the Chinese company with a $1 billion fine.
Beijing's antitrust investigations are a counterattack of sorts mainly targeting Micron. However, Korean semiconductor makers will likely suffer much more damage than the U.S. firm if China goes ahead with trade retaliation, as they supplied 52.3 percent of China's imports of memory chips last year. As Beijing will want to avoid exacerbating its trade war with Washington, the Korean companies could emerge as scapegoats.
Korea has been bracing for collateral damage from the ongoing trade confrontation because of its high export dependency on the world's two largest economies, but hardly expected sparks to fly this way. Policymakers and businesspeople should do their best to keep local semiconductor manufacturers from getting caught in the crossfire.
![[ANALYSIS] Tesla, BYD's price cuts unnerve LGES, Samsung, SK](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/b1cf8ba68d474cb69352bfe7ea9d14f0.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
![[INTERVIEW] How ATEEZ achieved worldwide success](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/c7723b56dde94eb4b260950d368fe8fb.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
