This comes at a time when Washington is seeking to impose a suffocating blockade on Beijing. In this regard, the United States is trying to employ its tools and mobilize all its forces to confuse Chinese accounts, including urging other countries to follow the same American approach with regard to the semiconductor conflict.
In this context, the “Financial Times” revealed that the United States asked South Korea to urge chip makers not to fill any gap in the Chinese market if Beijing banned Micron Technology Inc MU.O from selling chips.
This came in parallel with the visit of South Korean President Yoon Sok Yul to the United States, from April 24 to 29, which is the first state visit by a South Korean leader to the United States since 2011 and coincides with the 70th anniversary of the alliance of the two countries.
American request
Washington has asked Seoul to encourage Samsung and SK Hynix to back off increased sales to China if Micron is banned as a result of an investigation by Beijing, the Financial Times added, citing people familiar with the matter.
China’s Cyberspace Regulatory Authority announced in March that it would conduct a security audit of Micron products sold in the country. The chip maker said last month that it was cooperating with the Chinese government and that its operations in the country were normal.
The White House did not comment on the FT report, but added that the Biden and John administrations have made efforts to coordinate investments in the semiconductor sector and secure critical technologies.
Taiwan and South Korea
Information technology expert, Dr. Hussein Al-Omari, says that electronic chips are of two types (very fine or advanced chips, and regular chips), pointing to Taiwan’s control over the production of microelectronic chips, as the Taiwanese company “TSMC” controls 65 percent of semi-finished chips. Connectors in the world, 90 percent of the advanced chips. And in the next place comes “South Korea”, where the second largest manufacturer of electronic chips is “Samsung”.
Al-Omari indicated in statements to “Sky News Arabia Economy” that both countries (Taiwan and South Korea) are economically unwilling to reduce their dealings with China regarding electronic chips, especially since “China represents a big customer for them, given Beijing’s superiority.” in the field of technological manufacturing, devices and equipment.
respond to American dictates
Therefore, he does not believe that the two countries, economically speaking, can submit to this American desire, on the grounds that entering into a war with China represents serious repercussions for companies operating in the sector, stressing that the whole matter appears to be pressures exerted by the United States in the context of its war with Beijing. , a war that began since the era of former President Donald Trump on a large scale.
He points out that “Beijing is waging this war in a smart way by putting pressure on Taiwan and its economic interests with it, while the United States is thinking of a military mentality, which is the subject of criticism in Washington.”
South Korea is looking to enhance its influence in the electronic chip industry, at a time when it is estimated that it controls a 15 percent share of global chip production, succeeding Taiwan.
- South Korea had announced, earlier this year, the pumping of investments worth $ 230 billion to establish a huge complex for the manufacture of electronic chips in the capital, Seoul, with great support from Samsung.
- The amount that South Korea decided to invest in developing the electronic chip industry is equivalent to the amount that America allocated to regain control of this industry and attract producers to its territory.
- South Korea also announced that it will review the Industrial Technology Protection Act, with the aim of protecting its intellectual property.
trade war
Professor of Economics, Advisor at the World Bank, Mahmoud Anbar, says in statements to “Sky News Arabia Economy” that:
- The ongoing conflict is classified as a global financial crisis compared to previous crises, and it is perhaps the most dangerous at the current stage between the eastern and western camps.
- The danger lies in the use of economic sanctions as a weapon in the conflict between the two camps.
- Economic tools are being used in an unprecedented manner in conflict management, which is strongly demonstrated by the trade war between the United States of America and China in particular.
- The United States uses some trade policies that constitute a remarkable shift in Washington’s economic ideology, which is linked to economic freedom and the free passage of goods without restrictions.
- Washington imposed restrictions on Chinese imports, or what is called trade protectionism, in addition to economic sanctions as a weapon, which poses a threat to trade exchanges.
Anbar stresses that “electronic chips” or “semiconductors” come as a link in the context of this war between the two camps, and the United States seeks to besiege Beijing in this file, within the framework of the general conflict that paves the way for a new economic map whose features will appear gradually and no one can predict it. In light of the current indicators and economic complexities, with the use of the weapon of economic sanctions.
The United States imposed a series of export controls on chip-making technology to China; Lest they be used to produce chips for military applications. It has blacklisted a number of China’s largest chip companies, including Micron’s rival Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd.
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