US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and her South Korean counterpart agreed to “minimize uncertainties” of chipmakers’ investments amid new US semiconductor subsidies, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said yesterday.
Companies such as Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc, the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 memorychip makers, are concerned about the criteria for subsidies from the US’ CHIPS and Science Act, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said last month.
South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang asked Raimondo to help resolve chipmakers’ uncertainties about subsidy requirements, such as providing “excessive” corporate information and sharing excess profit with the US government, the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
Raimondo and Lee agreed to “continue discussions on the requirements and opportunities of the CHIPS Act” to “minimize uncertainties of corporate investments and business burdens,” they said in a joint statement.
Samsung is building a chip plant in Texas that could cost more than US$25 billion and has said it is reviewing the criteria, while SK Hynix parent SK Group is planning to invest US$15 billion in the US chip sector, including an advanced chip packaging factory, and has said it might apply for funding.
The US Department of Commerce last month said it would protect confidential business information and expects the requirement to share excess profit to only trigger when projects significantly exceed projected cash flow.
Lee also told Raimondo that South Korean companies are “highly concerned” that the one-year waiver of export controls they received to bring in necessary chip equipment to their Chinese plants would expire in October, the ministry said.
SK Hynix, which has chip plants in China’s Wuxi and Dalian, has expressed hopes the waiver would be extended.
The joint statement said that Raimondo and Lee agreed to cooperate on chip export controls to “protect national security while minimizing disruptions to global semiconductor supply chains” and “maintaining viability of semiconductor industries.”
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
RSS