US, South Korea Made Progress in Securing Critical Technologies: White House

Micron Technology's solid-state drive for data center customers at a product launch event in San Francisco on Oct. 24, 2019. (Stephen Nellis/Reuters)

The United States and South Korea have made “historical progress” in deepening cooperation to secure critical technologies and address economic coercion, the White House said on Sunday.

This came as South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol prepared for his first state visit to the United States on Monday for talks with President Joe Biden, which Washington said will underscore their “ironclad alliance.”

“This includes efforts to coordinate investments in the semiconductor sector, secure critical technologies, and address economic coercion,” the U.S. National Security Council told the Financial Times.

“We expect the upcoming state visit to even further strengthen cooperation on all these fronts,” it added.

The White House made the remarks in response to a Financial Times report citing unnamed sources that Washington had requested South Korea to advise its chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, to hold back from boosting their sales to China if U.S. chipmaker Micron is banned from selling chips in Beijing.

One of the sources suggested that Washington’s request to South Korea demonstrates the Biden administration’s goal to prevent China from using Micron “as a lever to influence or effect U.S. policy” and thwart China’s economic coercion efforts by cooperating with its allies.

The White House did not comment on the report but said the semiconductor sector was one area where the two countries had made progress in advancing their collaboration.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix for comment.

China Launches Probe Into Micron

China’s cybersecurity watchdog launched a cybersecurity review of Idaho-based Micron’s products sold in the country last month, citing the need to prevent “network security risks caused by hidden product problems” and “maintain national security.”

Micron said that its business continues to operate as normal in China while the company was cooperating with the investigation.

Advanced semiconductor chips are used to make everything from pickup trucks to hypersonic missiles. Currently, more than 60 percent of the world’s supply of chips is produced in Taiwan, many of them with the help of U.S. research and design.

The United States last year imposed sweeping restrictions on access to chipmaking technology to impede China’s technological and military advances. But Washington needs the cooperation of its allies and partners for its measures to be effective.

Japan Tightens Chipmaking Equipment Exports

Japan earlier imposed export restrictions on 23 semiconductor manufacturing equipment amid an ongoing spat between the United States and China over chip technology.

The export control measures will take effect in July and cover equipment for cleaning, checkups, and lithography—a key technology in manufacturing advanced semiconductors—according to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

“It is to prevent our technology from being diverted for military use,” METI Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told local reporters. “We will fulfill our responsibility to the international community.”

Japan said that 42 countries, including the United States and Taiwan, will continue receiving the equipment under a simplified export measure. But China was not among them and will be subject to stricter controls.

The new regulation will affect equipment manufactured by 10 Japanese companies, including Tokyo Electron Ltd. However, Nishimura said he expected minimal impact on local companies as the rules only target “extremely advanced” technology.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning criticized Japan’s move, saying that “weaponizing trade and tech issues and destabilizing the global industrial and supply chains benefit no one and will eventually backfire.”

The Netherlands had also agreed to block Beijing from having access to chip manufacturing technology, such as from ASML Holding NV, which dominates the market for lithography systems used to create chips’ minute circuitry.

Andrew Thornebrooke and Reuters contributed to this report.