Plans by South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc to overhaul a huge facility in China so it can make memory chips more efficiently are in jeopardy, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, because US officials do not want advanced equipment used in the process to enter into China.
The potential setback could make SK Hynix, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of DRAM memory chips that go into everything from smartphones to data centers, the next victim of the geopolitical struggle between the US and China.
SK Hynix production plans call for the company to upgrade a mass production facility in Wuxi, China, with some of the latest extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) chipmaking machines made by Dutch firm ASML Holding NV, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
Photo: Reuters
The US in the past has objected on the grounds that shipping such advanced tools to China could be used to strengthen the country’s military.
The Wuxi factory is critical to the global electronics industry because it makes about half of SK Hynix’s DRAM chips, which amounts to 15 percent of the worldwide total.
Any major changes could have an impact on global memory markets, where analyst firm IDC Corp says demand is growing at 19 percent this year alone.
As newer styles of chips make up a greater share of SK Hynix’s production in two to three years, the company will need the EUV machines to control its costs and accelerate production, a source with knowledge of the company’s operations in China said.
The extent of the concerns inside of SK Hynix has not been previously reported.
If the situation is not resolved in the next several years, SK Hynix could stand at a disadvantage against rivals, such as No. 1 memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics Co and the US’ Micron Technology Inc.
Samsung and Micron are also shifting to ASML’s EUV machines, but are not using them at factory locations where the machines face export restrictions.
The question of the ASML machines has drawn enough concern within SK Hynix that chief executive Lee Seok-hee raised the issue with US officials during a visit to Washington in July, two people briefed on his visit said.
SK Hynix declined to comment on the matter, adding that it operates flexibly according to various market environments and is doing its best to respond to market and customer demands without issue.
An ASML spokesperson said that the company abides by all export control laws and views them as a “valid tool” for governments to ensure national security.
However, the company said the overuse of those controls “might impact the production capacity needed to stay ahead of the increasing demand of semiconductors.”
“It is likely that widespread use of export controls could exacerbate microchip supply chain issues, which are already a major concern of governments and policy makers around the world because of the spill-over effect to other industries,” such as the automotive industry, the spokesperson said in a statement.
Analysts do not believe that US officials would view SK Hynix’s efforts to bring an EUV tool into China any differently than earlier efforts by Chinese firms.
“They’re really caught between a Chinese rock and a US hard spot,” VLSIresearch chief executive Dan Hutcheson said, adding that the rules would likely apply to any chip manufacturing operations in China, foreign or domestically controlled.
“Anyone who puts an EUV tool in China gives China the capacity,” he said.
“Once it’s there, you have no idea where it will go after that. The Chinese could always seize it or do whatever they wanted to do,” he said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
RSS