“US seeks South Korean help to counter potential Micron sanctions: Financial Times”

In their commercial and technological battle against the ChineTHE UNITED STATES never stop mobilizing their allies. According to Financial Timesthe Biden administration would have asked for help from the South Korean government to counter potential sanctions against Micron.

Concretely, explains the British financial daily, Washington would like Seoul to put pressure on Samsung and SK Hynix, so that they do not increase their exports of memory chips to the Chinese market, in the event of trade restrictions against their great American rival.

Retaliation?

End of March, Beijing launched an investigation into Micron at the end of March.officially for potential “security risks”. The United States, on the contrary, considers that this is a first measure of economic retaliation against the American restrictions, which came into force in the fall of 2022, on the export of advanced chips and the equipment used to produce them.

An export ban would be a blow to Micron. Number three in the sector, it is going through a very difficult period: its turnover has been halved in the last quarter. Due to the fall in sales of electronic products, the sector is indeed affected by a major crisis of overproduction, which is reflected in a drop in demand and prices.

By rallying South Korea, the Biden administration is seeking to scare off China, which could thus face a shortage of chips. In the segment of DRAM memories, equipping computers and servers, Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix control 96% of the market, according to estimates by the firm TrendForce. And in the NAND memory segment, for smartphones, their combined market share stands at 65%.

The Netherlands and Japan also solicited

This request comes on the sidelines of Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Washington. He took office last year and has adopted a tougher line towards China, while defending the economic interests of national chipmakers, recalls the Financial Times.

To win their case, however, the United States has a major asset: last year, they granted a waiver to Samsung and SK Hynix so that they could continue to ship equipment to their Chinese factories – the US sanctions apply to all companies using US technology. This waiver expires in the fall.

Faced with Beijing, American diplomacy has already succeeded in convincing the Netherlands and Japan to limit the export of semiconductor production machinery to China. A massive blow for Chinese industry because the two countries are home to the world’s largest equipment manufacturers: ASML and Tokyo Electric.