US Pressing Korean Chipmakers For More China Chip Curbs

US officials are pressing South Korea and its giant chipmakers to curb China’s access to advanced memory chips, according to local media in Seoul.

Alan Estevez, a senior US Commerce official who addressed an economic security conference in Washington on Tuesday, noted that the “new battlefield” is going to be won and lost by the technology that is developed today and stressed the importance of allies and their role in joining the US in export controls targeting China, according to a report by Hankyoreh on Thursday (Sept 12).

He allegedly noted that two of the three companies which make high-bandwidth memory chips are Korean and said it was “important for us to have that capacity being developed and available for our own needs, as well as the needs of our allies.”

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SK Hynix, Samsung Electronics and the US’s Micron Technology are the only producers of HBM chips, which is “vital for AI accelerator chips,” it said, adding that Estevez’s comments were interpreted as a “call for South Korean companies to continue to work closely with the US on HBM products and technology while controlling exports to China.”

This is no surprise, given the Biden Administration has recently pressed the Dutch government to stop ASML, the world’s top chip tools maker, from maintaining the DUV (deep ultraviolet) lithography machines it has sold to China – a move that angered Beijing.

Hankyoreh said Cheong In-kyo, head of South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s trade negotiations division, attended the conference in Washington and confirmed to reporters that “The US is asking for our cooperation on this issue.”

Seoul and Washington have yet to discuss the matter, but given the heated atmosphere in the US capital ahead of the election in November, it appears likely that the US will seek to tighten export restrictions on chips and other tech ahead of the poll.