Ministry of Industry: "Additional US AI Semiconductor Export Controls Have Limited Impact on Korean Companies"

On the 17th (local time), the U.S. Department of Commerce announced advanced semiconductor export control measures, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated that the impact on Korean companies is limited.

On the 18th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy forecasted, "Since domestic production of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips is minimal and consumer chips are exempt from controls, the impact of the U.S.'s strengthened export control measures on the domestic industry will be limited." Regarding semiconductor equipment, domestic companies have already obtained 'Verified End User (VEU)' approval, so the impact from these measures is assessed to be almost none.

On the 13th, the U.S. government designated Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's semiconductor factories in China as VEUs, allowing semiconductor equipment to be imported without separate permits.

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security revised the export control measures announced last October and published them in the Federal Register on this day. These measures control the export of advanced semiconductors to China. To strengthen control over advanced AI chips, the control criteria were expanded and the scope of application extended to companies headquartered in China and other concern countries. To prevent diversion exports, a licensing system will be implemented for more than 40 security concern countries outside China.

For semiconductor equipment, 12 types of equipment necessary for producing logic chips with 14- and 16-nanometer non-planar transistor structures?such as etching, lithography, deposition, and cleaning?were added to the control list. Exporting these pieces of equipment to China, Macau, and 21 other concern countries requires a license.

The U.S. government also added two design companies related to advanced computing chip development (Moore Threads, Biren) and their subsidiaries, totaling 13 Chinese companies, to the Entity List of concern.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, "We will conduct a more detailed analysis of the U.S.'s strengthened export control measures, continue efforts to minimize the impact on our industry, and closely cooperate with the U.S. side on global semiconductor supply chain stability and export control-related matters."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.