S.Korea, Taiwan chipmakers express concern about US subsidy criteria
Send a link to a friend
[March 30, 2023] By
Joyce Lee and Ben Blanchard
SEOUL/TAIPEI (Reuters) -The criteria for new U.S. semiconductor
subsidies is worrying companies such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and
SK Hynix Inc, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Thursday, a
concern shared by the world's leading contract chipmaker in Taiwan.
Conditions include sharing excess profit with the U.S. government, and
three industry sources said the application process itself could expose
confidential corporate strategy.
Yoon met with United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Seoul,
and asked the U.S. government to consider companies' concern over an
"excessive level of information provision", the presidential office
said.
Subsidies would come from a $52 billion pool of research and
manufacturing funds earmarked under the United States' so-called CHIPS
Act, for which the Commerce Department announced guides and templates
this month.
SK Hynix parent SK Group plans to invest $15 billion in the U.S. chip
sector, including to build an advanced chip packaging factory, and has
said it is considering applying for funding. Samsung is building a chip
plant in Texas that could cost more than $25 billion and has said it is
reviewing the guidelines.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/atlantabank_lda_SFARM_2023.png)
However, funding applications may require detailed cost structure
information as well as projected wafer yields, utilisation rates and
price changes, which three Korean chip sources told Reuters was akin to
revealing corporate strategy.
"All of this is confidential information. The most important thing in
chips is cost structure. Experts will be able to tell our strategy at a
glance," said one of the sources, who declined to be identified due to
the sensitivity of the matter.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/033023PIX/busine19.jpg)
Mobile memory chips made by chipmaker SK
Hynix are seen in this picture illustration taken May 10, 2013,
Seoul, South Korea. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/graue_lda_ENCOREpreowned_020723.jpg)
Speaking at an industry event in Taiwan, the chairman of Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world's largest
contract chipmaker, said it had concerns too.
"We are still discussing with them. There are some conditions that
cannot be accepted. We hope that they can be adjusted so there will
be no negative effect. We will continue to talk to the U.S.
government," Mark Liu told reporters.
TSMC is investing $40 billion in a new plant in Arizona.
The U.S. Department of Commerce will accept subsidy applications for
leading-edge chip facilities from March 31, and for
current-generation, mature-node and back-end production facilities
from June 26.
Also on Thursday, South Korea's parliament approved a bill offering
large tax breaks to strategic industries - including the
semiconductor industry - which invest at home, to strengthen
supply-chain security while boosting the economy.
The approval comes in the same month the government announced a 550
trillion won ($424 billion) private-sector investment plan to
maintain the competitiveness of high-tech industries while other
countries are actively bolstering theirs.
($1 = 1,297.8800 won)
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by
Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Jacqueline
Wong, Elaine Hardcastle)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Mar/30/images/ads/current/brandt_sda_SFARM_2023.png) |