Samsung, SK Hynix to be spared brunt of China memory chip crackdown -sources

Sherritt International

06/10/2022 20:43

By Alexandra Alper and Karen Freifeld
       WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Biden administration
plans to spare SK Hynix  005930.KS  and Samsung  005930.KS  from
the brunt of new restrictions on DRAM and flash memory chip
makers in China aimed at thwarting Beijing's technological
ambitions and blocking its military advances, sources said.
    The Commerce Department, which plans to release new curbs on
exports of technology to China this week, will likely deny
requests by U.S. suppliers to send equipment to Chinese firms
like Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd (YMTC) and ChangXin
Memory Technologies, Inc (CXMT) if they are making advanced DRAM
or flash memory chips, the sources said.
    However, license requests to sell equipment to foreign
companies making advanced memory chips in China will be reviewed
on a case by case basis, sources said, potentially allowing for
them to receive the equipment.
    "The goal is not to hurt non-indigenous companies," one of
the people briefed on the matter said.
        The White House and Commerce Department declined to
comment. SK Hynix, Samsung, YMTC, CXMT and the Chinese Embassy
in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
  
 (Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Karen Freifeld; Editing by
Chris Sanders and Richard Chang)
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