U.S. steps up tariff threats against foreign memory chipmakers

(MK DB)

The United States has stepped up tariff threats against foreign memory chipmakers as it presses companies to build manufacturing facilities domestically – a move that effectively puts South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. in the spotlight.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick raised the prospect of steep tariffs on Saturday, local time, at a groundbreaking ceremony for Micron Technology Inc.’s new semiconductor plant near Syracuse, New York.

“Everyone who wants to build memory has two choice: They can pay a 100 percent tariff, or they can build in America,” he said.

Lutnick did not single out specific countries or companies but market attention has focused on Korean manufacturers.

According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix accounted for a combined 67 percent of the global memory market as of the third quarter of 2025, far ahead of U.S.-based Micron at 26 percent and Taiwan’s ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. and Nanya Technology Corp. at a combined 7 percent.

“If memory chips produced in Korea were hit with a 100 percent tariff, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix would inevitably be at a competitive disadvantage against Micron products manufactured in the U.S.,” said an industry source.

While pressure from the Trump administration’s semiconductor policy has largely focused on foundries such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the tariff push is now expanding into the memory chip sector.

Korea’s presidential office said it would work to minimize the impact on domestic companies, citing an agreement that Korea would not be placed at a disadvantage compared with other major countries.

In a joint fact sheet released after the Korea-U.S. summit last November, the U.S. stated that if tariffs are imposed on semiconductors, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the U.S. “intends to provide terms for such Section 232 tariffs on Korea that are no less favorable than terms that may be offered in a future agreement covering a volume of semiconductor trade at least as large as Korea’s.”