According to data released by the South Korean Ministry of Commerce, South Korea's chip exports in November increased by 12 percent year-on-year9%。There are many reasons for this export growth, mainly due to the following reasons.
First of all, the demand for Korean memory chips in the Chinese market continues to grow. In the past, when China was not able to produce memory chips independently, the demand for Korean memory chips in the Chinese market was very large. South Korean memory chip companies Samsung and SK hynix are the world's top two memory chip companies, and South Korea's chip production naturally needs to rely on foreign exports to meet demand. As one of the world's largest consumer markets, China has always had a large demand for memory chips, and about 60% of South Korea's memory chip exports are sold to China.
Second, China's memory chip technology lags behind South Korea's. Although China has started producing memory chips before 2022, it still lags behind South Korea in terms of technology. Therefore, China still needs to rely on South Korea's memory chips to meet market demand.
Finally, the competitiveness and production capacity of China's memory chips have been improved. Last year, China successfully mass-produced the world's most advanced 232-layer Nandflash memory chip, and the second phase of the project began mass production, which greatly improved the competitiveness and production capacity of China's memory chips. This has led to the continuation of global memory chips, and South Korea's chip exports have also plummeted.
First of all, for South Korea, South Korean memory chips are one of its important export commodities, so the growth of chip exports has a positive impact on the development of South Korea's economy. South Korean memory chip companies Samsung and SK hynix were also able to reverse their disadvantages and reduce the pressure of losses.
Secondly, for China, although China has begun to produce memory chips, it still needs to import a large number of South Korean memory chips to meet market demand. After all, South Korea's memory chip technology is ahead of China's, and China's memory chip technology is still stuck at 232 layers, which is a certain gap compared with South Korea's memory chips with more than 300 layers. As a result, China is still dependent on South Korea's memory chips.
Finally, for other countries, the growth of memory chips in South Korea will also have an impact on the global memory chip market. Due to the improvement of the competitiveness of China's memory chips and the increase in production capacity, the global memory chips continue to be the most important, which is a challenge for the memory chip industry. Micron, an American memory chip company, has suffered huge losses as a result, while the growth of South Korean memory chips can fill the gap in market demand to a certain extent.
Although China is still lagging behind South Korea in memory chip technology, the development prospects of China's memory chips are still broad.
First of all, China has made important breakthroughs in mobile phone chips and radio frequency chips. The 5G mobile phone launched by a domestic mobile phone company in China is equipped with 5G chips and radio frequency chips with domestic technology, and has returned to the 5G mobile phone market. This shows the resilience and creativity of Chinese chips in the field of mobile phone chips.
Secondly, the technological development momentum of China's memory chips is good. Although the process requirements for memory chips are high, the existing DUV lithography machines have been able to meet the needs of producing advanced memory chips. At the same time, China is increasing its R&D and investment in memory chip technology, and it is believed that in the near future, China's memory chips will be able to break the technical limitations and catch up with the global advanced level.
To sum up, South Korea's export growth of memory chips is temporary, and China still needs to rely on South Korea's technology and production capacity in the field of memory chips. However, the development momentum of China's memory chips is good, and China's insistence on independent research and development of chips will not stop, and it is believed that China's memory chips will create brilliance again, and form a huge competitive pressure on the Korean chip industry. Therefore, South Korean memory chip companies need to be prepared for danger in times of peace and actively carry out technological innovation, transformation and upgrading to meet future competitive challenges.