South Korea expects Washington to extend a waiver on the shipment of advanced chipmaking equipment to China, allowing SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co to get the equipment they need to maintain operations in the world’s second-biggest economy.
A one-year waiver due to expire in October is expected to be extended “for a considerable period of time,” South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Lee Chang-yang said yesterday.
Such a move would clear up a major uncertainty for South Korean chipmakers concerned about the future of their biggest overseas manufacturing bases.
Photo: Reuters / Samsung Electronics
Samsung and Hynix are the world’s largest memorychip makers, essential for most devices from computers to smartphones and vehicles.
South Korean officials have told their US counterparts that the Asian nation’s companies should be allowed to maintain operations in China to avoid disrupting the global chip supply chain, Lee told reporters at a briefing in Seoul.
Washington last year imposed a series of trade curbs on China that limited its access to advanced technology, including semiconductor manufacturing and chipmaking machinery. It granted a one-year waiver on those sanctions to South Korean memorychip makers including Samsung and Hynix.
Hynix has said that it is considering various options for its operations in China, but is not expecting significant changes for now. The chipmaker said last month it was positive on receiving an extension of the waiver.
Aside from export curbs, Washington also imposed restrictions on prospective China investments for any chipmakers hoping to receive federal funds through its Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act. Samsung is among those firms as it is building a Texas chip plant that could benefit from US subsidies.
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