Tech war: SK Hynix halts plans to upgrade chip tech at Wuxi plant due to pressure from US sanctions on China: report
- SK Hynix’s strategy ‘involves shifting its capacity expansion back to South Korea, while the Wuxi fab caters to domestic demand in China’, report says
- If confirmed, move would represent another case where Korean chip makers have reviewed China investments in light of US restrictions
South Korean chip maker SK Hynix has rowed back on plans to upgrade memory chip-making technology at its fab in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, due to pressure from the latest US tech restrictions on China, according to a report by TrendForce, a Taiwan-based consultancy that tracks supply chains.
SK Hynix’s long-term strategy “involves shifting its capacity expansion back to South Korea, while the Wuxi fab caters to domestic demand in China and the legacy-process consumer DRAM market,” according to the report published on Thursday.
SK Hynix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SK Hynix had planned to upgrade its Wuxi fab’s mainstream process from 1y nanometre (nm) to more advanced 1z nm, both classified as being in the 10-nm class. But after the US imposed new restrictions on China’s access to advanced chip equipment and technology, the Korean company has opted to increase the share of its legacy 21-nm production lines, TrendForce said.
If confirmed, it would represent another case where Korean chip makers, including Samsung Electronics, have reviewed their investments in China as a result of Washington’s trade sanctions.
The US has asked South Korea to urge its chip makers not to fill any market gap in China if Beijing bans American semiconductor firm Micron Technology from selling its products on the mainland, according to a recent report by the Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the situation. Chinese regulators launched a cybersecurity review into Micron in March, without revealing further details.