Trump bars Samsung, SK from sending U.S. chip equipment to China

The U.S. Donald Trump administration announced that U.S. equipment cannot be supplied to Korean chipmakers’ factories in China, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Samsung Electronics' offices in Seocho District, southern Seoul, in April [YONHAP]

The Donald Trump administration announced that U.S. equipment cannot be supplied to Korean chipmakers’ factories in China, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Jeffrey Kessler, under secretary of commerce for industry and security at the U.S. Commerce Department, notified Samsung Electronics and SK hynix this week that he was willing to reinstate a requirement that they file applications whenever they wish to supply U.S.-made equipment to their China-based factories, per the report.

Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC is reportedly subject to Kessler's measure.

The move appears to be an attempt to block the U.S. technology from entering Chinese factories.

In October 2022, the U.S. government banned U.S. enterprises from exporting some of their advanced semiconductor equipment to Chinese chipmakers. At the time, China-based factories run by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were exempt from the measure.

BY JUNG SI-NAE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]