Foreign media The Micron incident caused a sensation in the United States
Some time ago, the relevant departments of our country announced an investigation into the American Micron Company, and the number of words of the warning was relatively small. This has led to a lot of speculation from the outside world, because based on past experience, generally speaking, the smaller the number of words, the bigger the problem.
They say that this is just a normal analysis, but there are also various interpretations: insiders believe that Micron has engaged in abnormal competition, the United States believes that this is a counterattack to sanctions, and some time ago American think tanks put forward new reasons.
Some time ago, South Korea's "East Asia" published an article saying that China's security investigation into Micron, the largest storage company in the United States, was regarded by American think tanks as an attempt to lure South Korea by suppressing the sales of Micron products and allowing South Korean companies to expand their semiconductor business in China.
The aim is to exempt South Korea from U.S.-led export restrictions and create a breakthrough in the U.S. semiconductor control front.
Since the U.S. is encircling South Korea and imposing restrictions, most of Micron's $3.3 billion in sales on the mainland will go to South Korean companies if China bans Micron products, so the purpose of China's investigation of Micron is to prevent South Korea from participating in the restrictions.
If China decides to ban Micron's sales on the mainland, I hope that South Korea will urge South Korean companies Samsung and SK hynix not to fill the gap.
In addition, the U.S. has also made a ** attack on South Korea, saying that South Korea should be grateful for the U.S. policy of restricting the export of semiconductor equipment. This is because the main competitor to suppress South Korean companies in this regard is China, which greatly affects the expansion of production.
On the other hand, it is also conducive to the original plan of Samsung and Skhynix to expand production in China, and it is expected to return to South Korea.
As a result, South Korea has become the biggest beneficiary of U.S. export restrictions, so South Korea should actively participate in U.S. export restrictions on chewing gum. The ROK side will be skeptical of these accusations made by the US side, and the ROK industry will not take it seriously at all.
First, the so-called beneficiary limitation is itself a burden. China's investigation of Micron is aimed at dispelling South Korea's justification, which is very ridiculous. Micron's share of China's memory chip market is not high, and it is far from Samsung and SK hynix.
In addition, China still has local storage companies such as YMTC and Changxin Storage, which are unlikely to attract South Korea through this move.
Even if Micron withdraws from the Chinese market, the benefits for South Korean companies will be limited. However, the U.S. restrictions on chips have had a big impact on South Korean companies, which have already invested in building factories on the mainland with large production capacity and are currently investing in expanding production.
The U.S. restrictions on the export of advanced equipment to the African continent will affect the expansion of South Korean companies on the continent, causing immeasurable losses. In addition, Korean companies themselves are investing heavily in Korea and will not expand their investments due to U.S. restrictions.
Therefore, the U.S. claim that South Korea benefited from the restrictions is unreasonable, but it does mean that South Korean companies still have to go through the trouble of applying for exemptions.
Second, South Korea's chewing gum exports have plummeted due to restrictions. In fact, it is precisely because of South Korea's cooperation with the United States to impose restrictions on chewing gum that South Korea's chewing gum exports to the mainland have continued to decline, and it is now the ninth consecutive month of decline.
After the United States issued new regulations on chip export control in October last year, the downward trend of South Korea's chip exports to China began to become serious.
Since semiconductors are one of South Korea's most important export products, and 40% of the previous chip exports went to the mainland market, but due to the chip restrictions imposed by the United States, the mainland began to speed up chip research and development, and the production capacity continued to increase, so it naturally reduced imports.
As a result, the performance of Korean companies such as Samsung and SK hynix has declined severely. In fact, not only Korean companies, but also American companies such as Intel and Qualcomm are no exception. Because from last year to now, the number of imported chips in China has decreased by 129.1 billion.
What's even more interesting is that the United States thought that restricting the export of chips would cost us a lot of money, and we would be very happy when they proposed to relax export controls. But they were wrong. The United States offered to ease restrictions, and we are not interested at all.
According to people familiar with the situation, Biden has hinted that China will no longer refuse to participate if it is willing to facilitate China's chip control.
However, to the surprise of the United States, even if they hint at deregulation, they still do not come up with any strings attached, and China does not seem to have any interest in this. We have clearly seen their faces, and they are still determined to develop independently.
Now, we are vigorously developing our own Ejiao industry chain, and this industrial chain is rising, we must not affect our long-term development in the name of short-term interests, and then give them the opportunity to hollow out their own enterprises.
In short, it can be seen that the reasons mentioned by the American think tank for investigating Micron are quite ridiculous, and we are too lazy to do it!In this regard, some foreign media commented that the Micron incident is a major event for the United States, but South Korean companies are well aware of this, and China has also turned a deaf ear.