According to data released by the South Korean Ministry of Commerce, in November last year, South Korea's chip exports increased by 12 percent year-on-year9%, a growth rate of more than 90%, has brought a long-lost respite to the South Korean chip industry. This news caused a sensation on the Korean Internet, and netizens said that the demand for Korean chips in the Chinese market is still huge, and the Korean chip industry will continue to benefit. However, is this really the case?
South Korea's chip exports are mainly based on memory chips, of which Samsung and SK hynix are the two largest memory chip companies in South Korea and the two largest memory chip companies in the world. And these memory chips cannot be completely sold by Korean companies, but need to be exported**. In the past, because China has not yet produced memory chips, the Chinese market has formed a huge demand for South Korea's memory chips, accounting for about 60% of South Korea's chip exports. Although China has started producing memory chips before 2022, it is still lagging behind South Korea in terms of technology, so China still needs to rely on South Korea's memory chips.
However, in recent years, China's memory chip industry has made great progress. Last year, Chinese memory chip companies successfully mass-produced the world's most advanced 232-layer Nandflash memory chips, and the second phase of the project also began mass production, with twice the production capacity of the first phase. This has greatly improved the competitiveness and production capacity of China's memory chips, and it is possible to quickly replace imported chips. With the rise of China's memory chips, the global memory chips have also continued to fall to the trough of this year, with a decline of as much as half. This has led to a sharp increase in South Korea's chip exports, with South Korea's Samsung and SK hynix chip businesses experiencing significant losses. Micron, an American memory chip company, lost $4.2 billion. In view of the dilemma faced by South Korea and the United States in memory chips, the United States, in order to boost the competitiveness of South Korean chip companies, gave South Korea's Samsung and SK hynix licenses to ship advanced chip equipment to their factories in China to borrow China's mature industrial chain and low-cost advantages. This has enabled South Korean memory chip companies to reverse their disadvantages and achieve export growth.
At the same time, the United States continues to restrict chip companies in many fields such as Chinese memory chips from importing advanced equipment from overseas, further suppressing the development of China's chip technology. This has also led to China's memory chip technology remaining stuck at 232 layers, while companies such as Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron are already working on more than 300 layers of Nandflash memory chips. However, this practice of the United States may not be sustainable. In the past, the United States tried to stop China's development in areas such as mobile phone chips and radio frequency chips, but in just three years, Chinese chips have successfully broken the gap in these industries, launching 5G mobile phone chips and radio frequency chips equipped with domestic processes. This once again illustrates the resilience and creativity of Chinese chips.
For memory chips, its manufacturing process has been maintained above 10 nanometers, and it is entirely possible to produce advanced memory chips using existing DUV lithography machines. Therefore, it can be believed that the United States can only temporarily block the technological development of China's memory chips, and China's memory chips will soon break through the technological limitations and reach the global advanced level again. Therefore, the growth of South Korea's memory chips will only be temporary, and China will not stop insisting on independent chip research and development, and the memory chip challenge will also be solved. After all, China has not only shown strong technical strength in mobile phone chips, but also has corresponding breakthroughs in the field of more difficult memory chips. The development of Chinese chips will once again pose a threat to South Korea's chip industry.
China is one of the world's largest consumer markets, and its demand for memory chips cannot be ignored. In particular, with the advancement of 5G commercialization in China and the development of smartphones, Internet of Things, cloud computing and other fields, the demand for memory chips will continue to grow. South Korea's memory chip companies have successfully occupied China's chip market by exporting to the Chinese market and achieved rapid growth.
However, China is accelerating the development of its own memory chip industry, trying to achieve independent and controllable chips. Last year, Chinese memory chip companies successfully mass-produced the world's most advanced 232-layer Nandflash memory chips, and further expanded their production capacity in the second phase of the project. This has greatly improved the competitiveness of China's memory chips, and it is expected to achieve the goal of replacing imported chips in the near future.
In the face of the rise of China's chip industry, the United States undoubtedly feels threatened. In the past, the United States tried to prevent China's development in mobile phone chips, radio frequency chips, etc., hoping to maintain its dominant position in the chip industry. However, China's chip industry has shown strong resilience and innovation, and has continued to make breakthroughs and progress.
In order to boost the competitiveness of South Korean memory chip companies, the United States gave South Korea's Samsung and SK hynix licenses to ship advanced chip equipment to Chinese factories to take advantage of China's mature industrial chain and low-cost advantages. Although this kind of cooperation can temporarily get South Korean memory chip companies out of trouble, in fact, it also limits the development of China's memory chip technology. The United States continues to restrict imports of Chinese memory chips and other fields, with the intention of suppressing the competitiveness of China's chip technology.
However, the development of China's chip industry is unstoppable. China's memory chip technology is developing rapidly and is expected to soon achieve convergence with the world's advanced level. China has always adhered to the path of independent chip research and development, so it has not only achieved great success in the field of mobile phone chips, but also showed strong potential in the field of memory chips.
Some people say that chips are the core of modern science and technology and an important symbol of national strength and competitiveness. As the world's second largest economy, of course, China cannot only rely on imported chips, but should strengthen independent research and development and production. China's chip industry is developing in this direction and has achieved remarkable results.
In South Korea's case, although its memory chip exports have increased in the short term, this is only temporary. China's memory chip technology and production capacity are rapidly improving, and will be able to meet the needs of the domestic market in the future, thereby replacing imported chips. At present, China's memory chip technology is still subject to certain limitations, but with the continuous progress of technology, this limitation will be broken, and China's memory chips will be able to compete with the international advanced level.
All in all, the pace of China's independent research and development and production of memory chips will not stop. China's chip industry has achieved a lot and has shown great resilience and creativity. With the continuous breakthrough of technology and the continuous expansion of production capacity, China's memory chips will once again face the challenge of South Korean memory chips and eventually achieve greater success.