Intensifying US-China Semiconductor War
China’s Containment Purpose for AI Chip Manufacturing
Samsung and SK Dominating 90% of HBM Market
Concerns over Sparks in US-China Trade Dispute
South Korea: “Current Exports to China Not Significant”, ‘It has been reported that the US government is considering including High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) in the list of items subject to export restrictions to China. HBM is a type of semiconductor crucial for artificial intelligence (AI) services, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics currently holding a market share of around 90% worldwide. The risk of the US-China dispute affecting South Korean companies’ core products has increased.’,
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, ‘Domestic companies explain that the volume of HBM exports to China is currently not significant, so the immediate damage is expected to be limited. However, there are concerns that the Chinese HBM market could grow to tens of trillions of won in the future and that US regulations could push Chinese semiconductor companies towards self-reliance on HBM, potentially leading to a significant setback for Korean companies.’,
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, ‘Bloomberg reported on the 31st (local time) that the US government may unveil measures to restrict the supply of HBM to China by Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron by the end of August. The US controls exports to specific countries even if the products are made by foreign companies, under the Foreign Direct Product Rule (FDPR). Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix develop and produce HBM using US design software and equipment.’,
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, ‘HBM is a type of semiconductor created by stacking 8 or 12 DRAM chips vertically, specialized for high-capacity data processing. It is used in conjunction with graphic processing units (GPUs) made by companies like Nvidia, forming an essential component of AI accelerators in data centers (specialized semiconductor packages for data learning and AI inference). Nvidia’s ‘H100’ and AMD’s ‘MI300′ are examples of AI accelerators incorporating HBM.’,
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, ‘South Korean companies dominate the HBM market. According to market research firm TrendForce, SK Hynix held a 51% market share last year, followed by Samsung Electronics (38%) and Micron (11%). Therefore, the additional regulations by the US are seen as primarily targeting Korean companies.’,
, ‘The US’s consideration of ‘HBM export restrictions’ is aimed at containing China’s advancement in AI chip manufacturing. The US government already prohibits the export of high-performance AI accelerators to China by Nvidia and AMD. Nvidia has reportedly been producing AI accelerators with reduced performance like the ‘H20′ for export to China, but it is insufficient to meet Chinese demand.’,
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, ‘China’s countermeasure is ‘AI accelerator self-sufficiency.’ In May, China established its third ‘semiconductor investment fund,’ allocating 344 billion yuan (about 65 trillion won) for AI accelerator development and production. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are closely monitoring the situation. An industry official stated, “Samsung and SK Hynix do not supply significant amounts of HBM directly to Chinese companies.”‘,
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, ‘There are differing opinions. The US could potentially impose export restrictions on all AI accelerators made by Nvidia and AMD for China. Currently, Samsung Electronics supplies HBM3 to Nvidia’s ‘H20′ for China. If the US government blocks the export of H20 to China, Samsung Electronics could also face a significant impact. There are concerns that US regulations could incentivize Chinese companies to achieve self-reliance in HBM.’,
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