Washington is now primed to limit advanced chip production by South Korean companies located in China.
Officials first brought up the possibility in October, when the world’s top memory chip makers—South Korea’s Samsung and SK Hynix—received a one-year break from U.S. export restrictions. Those controls counter Beijing’s tech ambitions and block its military advances.
The Commerce Department’s under secretary for industry and security said Washington would likely cap “the levels that they can grow to in China.”
He added that the United States would “work with them to ensure that we aren’t going to harm our allies’ companies,” adding that, “At the same time, we’re going to impede the Chinese capability of building capabilities that are going to threaten us collectively.”
Samsung and SK Hynix control about half of the global NAND flash memory chip market. Both are heavily invested in China and produce vital chips for tech giants like Apple and Amazon.