We are no longer talking about the semiconductor crisis, now it has led to the “battle” of the chips. Is about one more step in the particular dispute that the United States and China maintain for a few years and with which the Western giant wants to suffocate one of the engines of the Chinese economy.
And it is not something that has to do exclusively with the market of devices for walking around the house, but with the military network. It is what worries the United States and, therefore, little by little it has gone enlisting allies to marginalize the Chinese semiconductor industry. And well, this has more implications with a Russia that is also being pushed aside, but we are going to focus on the conflict between the United States and China.
Japan, South Korea and the United States, the ‘entente cordiale’ of chips against China
The technological dispute between the United States and China is not new. ZTE and, above all, Huawei were “victims” of the tensions between the two powers. In addition, little by little, American companies have been pushed to look for new manufacturing centers for their chips.
TSMC, the company that dominates chip manufacturing worldwide, has been opening new factories outside of China. They have the most advanced technology (they are already working to create a two-nanometer lithograph) and, for example, Europe is investing obscene amounts to attract Intel or itself TSMC, which seems inclined to the western camp due to the dependence on companies such as Qualcomm or Apple.
Different countries are waging their “private war” against China and, for example, a few days ago the Government of the Netherlands approved new sanctions so that Chinese companies cannot buy SVU lithographic equipment (the extreme ultraviolet lithograph that had never sold to China), but neither the UVPanother sophisticated technology from the AMML company.
That the European countries were going to side with the West was something that was clear. We already saw it with Huawei’s 5G networks or with the position of Germany and its very important ZEISS opticsnecessary for microchip construction teams to work more efficiently.
However, they are not the only ones, and on the eastern side are both Japan and South Korea. Japan has always been an ally of the United States in its stance against China and, in addition, they play a very important role in the manufacture of semiconductors. And that is, the company Tokyo Electron, among others, supply lithographic equipment to different Chinese companies.
South Korea, on the other hand, is the home of Samsung. The Korean giant is positioning itself as the second largest chipmaker globally, behind only TSMC. Recently, Samsung stated that they were reinforcing their development teams with important signings and, as a fact, 20% of South Korea’s total exports are semiconductors. Of that 20%, 60% are bought by China.
There is a relationship of mutual dependency: South Korea is economically dependent on this market, but China also needs Korean chips for its own industry. Now, South Korea is trying to reach agreements with Japan to have priority access to raw materials and machinery with which to strengthen its industry and, in the end, together with US policies and European movements, the objective is to make China lose its status as a power in the manufacture of semiconductors.
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