With an investment of 2 billion, South Korean companies will send it to the door, and the United States Semiconductor may be angry
Many people only see the semiconductor dispute between the United States and Japan, but ignore the relationship between South Korea and Japan. In fact, there have been some problems between South Korea and Japan, and it was not until 2019 that Japan began to suppress Korean semiconductors and cut off the first light of photoresist and hydrofluoric acid, which hit South Korea's semiconductor industry a big blow.
However, since Nippon Semiconductor announced that it would remove Korean companies from the "blacklist", things have become a little delicate.
However, the core technology of chips is still controlled by Japanese companies, and once South Korean chip companies are restricted, they will be blocked. Originally, in their opinion, Korean Electronics Company may find another way, but Korean companies have increased their investment in Japan.
According to people familiar with the matter, in order to deepen ties with Japan's semiconductor industry chain, Samsung will spend two billion dollars to establish a research and development center in Japan. Samsung doesn't have much ambition, they just hope that they can improve the quality of their products through Japanese semiconductor companies, so as to compete with TSMC in the high-end market. However, this is not an easy thing to do.
This also means that South Korea and Japan will have more in-depth exchanges on high-end semiconductor technology, but this also means that they will give up their own technology. After all, the grievances between the two are not over yet.
However, compared to this matter, American semiconductor companies are worried.
First of all, the position of the United States on South Korea's chip research and development is very interesting. Although it is ostensibly aimed at domestic countries, it is actually aimed at Korean semiconductor companies. In terms of high-end technology, the United States has a great relationship with TSMC and Japanese chip companies, and both companies are working hard to research cutting-edge technologies.
It stands to reason that since they intend to pull South Korea's chip market aside, they must include South Korean chips in their camp. But this is not the case, and in a sense, American semiconductor companies also see South Korea's chip industry as a "threat" in a sense. South Korea's semiconductor companies, which originally planned to exclude them, have now reached an agreement with Japanese chip companies, which the United States does not want to see in any case.
However, they don't want to know that the two companies have close ties with South Korean semiconductor companies, while the United States and South Korea are silent. Not only that, but they also feel that the mentality of both China and the United States should not be chosen between the two countries, but should be more balanced. In a sense, this wall seems to keep Lao Mei out of the door.
What's more, Japan's semiconductor companies are also ambitious, and joining forces with Hanmi will be their biggest competitors. It seems that Lao Mei will encounter many difficulties in the future to engage in an independent production project in China. But it's also good that it disperses the area of their "encirclement and suppression", so that we have more buffer time.