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| Samsung Electronics' semiconductor factory in Xi'an / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have maintained a cautious stance toward a high-ranking U.S. government official's remarks that the Korean chipmakers could be barred from producing more advanced semiconductors in China later this year.
U.S. Department of Commerce's Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez said Thursday (local time) that there will likely be a "cap on the levels" of growth for Samsung and SK in China. This was in response to a question about what the companies should expect after their one-year reprieves from U.S. chip restrictions on China.
Last October, the Korean chipmakers earned one-year waivers from the U.S. Department of Commerce's export control measure that prohibits U.S.-based companies from exporting their semiconductor equipment to chip production companies in China.
"If you're at whatever layer, we'll stop it somewhere in that range," Estevez said during a conference co-hosted by the Korea Foundation and the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C. "It will depend on what the Chinese are doing too, but we're in a deep dialogue with the companies."
His remarks were interpreted as the U.S. government's intention to prevent China from learning advanced semiconductor technologies from Korean chipmakers. Amid the growing concerns, the Korean government asked the U.S. government to exempt Samsung and SK from the export ban even after the one-year waivers.
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| SK hynix officials celebrate the completion of the company's DRAM plant in Wuxi, China, in this 2019 file photo. Courtesy of SK hynix |
Both Samsung and SK declined to comment on this issue, considering the fact that the U.S. government has yet to state its official position on this matter.
The two companies also took a cautious stance toward worries over the U.S. government's plan to offer subsidies to chipmakers that promise not to increase their production capacities in China and other countries of concern over the next 10 years.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said on Thursday that her department will start to receive applications for a total of $39 billion in chips funding next Tuesday, in order to incentivize companies to manufacture semiconductors on American soil. Both Samsung and SK are reportedly planning to apply for subsidies.
"Over the last two years, China has produced more than 80 percent of new global capacity for certain mature chips, and their market share is growing," she said. "Without manufacturing strength in the U.S. and the innovation that flows from it, we are at a clear disadvantage in the race to invent and commercialize future generations of technology."
Given that Samsung and SK have operated multiple semiconductor factories in China, the U.S. CHIPS Act is feared to pose a setback in increasing their investments in the Chinese market.
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