|
Last October, the Biden administration published a sweeping set
of export controls, including a measure to cut off China from
certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S.
tools, vastly expanding the reach of a bid to slow Beijing's
technological and military advances.
South Korea's government said this week that Samsung Electronics
and SK Hynix will be allowed to supply U.S. chip equipment to
their China factories indefinitely without separate U.S.
approvals.
"Whether it will be the same treatment as Samsung and SK Hynix,
it's up to the announcement from the U.S. government," Wang told
reporters in Taipei.
TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said last year it
had been granted a one-year authorisation by the United States
that covered its factory in Nanjing, China, that makes
less-advanced 28 nanometre chips.
"TSMC has already received a one-year waiver, and now we'll have
to see whether the U.S. government will further loosen the
measures," Wang said.
TSMC did not respond to a request for comment on the issue.
The United States had been expected to extend a waiver granted
to the South Korean chipmakers on a requirement for licences to
bring U.S. chip equipment into China.
Samsung and SK Hynix, the world's largest and second-largest
memory chipmakers, had invested billions of dollars in their
chip production facilities in China and welcomed the move.
Samsung Electronics makes about 40% of its NAND flash chips at
its plant in Xian, China, while SK Hynix makes about 40% of its
DRAM chips in Wuxi and 20% of its NAND flash chips in Dalian.
The companies together controlled nearly 70% of the global DRAM
market and 50% of the NAND flash market as of end-June, data
from TrendForce showed.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
