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

Sherritt International

06/10/2022 21:01

(Adds Chinese embassy comment, policy details)
    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, and CXMT did not respond to requests
for comment.    
        The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Thursday described
the expected rules as "sci-tech hegemony." It accused the United
States of using its "technological prowess ... to hobble and
suppress the development of emerging markets and developing
countries."
  
        Details of some of the new regulations facing
China-based memory chip makers have not been previously
reported.
  
        Under the new curbs, U.S. suppliers seeking to ship
equipment to China-based semiconductor firms would not have to
seek a license from the Commerce Department if selling to firms
producing DRAM chips above the 18 nanometer node, NAND Flash
chips below 128 layers, or logic chips above 14 nanometers, the
sources said. 
  
        However, U.S. companies selling sophisticated technology
to indigenous Chinese chipmakers producing DRAM chips at 18
nanometers or below, NAND flash chips at or above 128 layers or
logic chips at or under 14 nanometers would have to apply for a
license that would be reviewed with the tough "presumption of
denial" standard.
  
        U.S. suppliers seeking to sell the equipment to
non-Chinese origin companies operating in China and producing
those same types of chips would also face a license requirement
but the applications would be reviewed on a case by case basis,
the sources added.
  
 (Reporting by Alexandra Alper and Karen Freifeld; Editing by
Chris Sanders and Richard Chang)
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