A few days ago, the U.S. House of Representatives' "U.S.-China Strategic Competition Select Committee" announced that they will further increase the scrutiny of the interests of U.S. chipmakers in China. To this end, they have sent letters to three chip manufacturing giants in the United States, asking their CEOs to testify before Congress. Obviously, in order to stop China's technological rise, some political interest groups in the United States have almost lost their minds.
The so-called elephant fight and ant suffering, the fierce war between China and the United States in the field of chips, the final injury is still the relevant allies such as Japan and South Korea who are caught in the middle. However, for the United States to gradually upgrade its chip export control policy to China, South Korean chip giants do not seem to want to follow the cards. According to the Global Times, South Korean chip manufacturing giant Hynix recently announced that they are ready to break the restrictions on the export of extreme ultraviolet lithography machines from the United States to China and upgrade the technology of its semiconductor factories in China.
Although some analysts believe that in the context of the United States blocking the export of high-end lithography machines from the Netherlands to China, it is not easy for Hynix to upgrade the chip manufacturing process of its domestic enterprises in China. However, South Korea's "Seoul Economy" recently reported that Hynix plans to upgrade some of the memory production equipment of its enterprises in China to ***10 nanometer process this year. Because the company believes that as the global chip market begins to recover, the expansion of high-end chip production capacity is urgent.
In fact, Hynix has already formed an internal working group on geopolitical issues as early as last year and is convinced that corporate risks will be mitigated to a large extent. Obviously, no matter how the United States implements chip export controls on China, whether it is out of its own interests or fighting for future survival, Hynix must break through these geopolitical obstacles and upgrade the production equipment of chip companies in China, otherwise, these production lines with huge investment will be eliminated one day sooner or later.
You must know that the main goal of the United States to escalate its chip war against China is of course not to destroy its own chip companies, but to a large extent, to weaken the competitiveness of rivals and allies in related industries, and clear the way for related industries in the United States to monopolize the global market share. Therefore, the United States not only restricts China's access to high-end chips, but also recently considered introducing new rules to prevent the United States and its allies from importing low-end chips from China.
This move by the United States is clearly to cut off the financial path of South Korean chip companies in China in the field of low-end chips. Therefore, even though Hynix is facing many difficulties, it still insists on spending huge sums of money to upgrade the equipment of the company's chip manufacturing plant in China, which is due to the above factors.
Of course, there is another more important reason for Hynix's determination to upgrade the equipment technology of its enterprises in China, that is, the rapid rise of China's semiconductor industry has posed a threat to South Korean companies. According to the "Seoul Economy", a report released by investment bank Barek a few days ago shows that there are "many more" Chinese semiconductor manufacturers than the outside world thinks.
Coincidentally, recently, a report by the International Semiconductor Industry Association has also caused concern among Korean companies: China's chip production capacity will rank first in the world with a growth rate of 13%. The report pointed out that Chinese mainland is expected to expand its share of global semiconductor production capacity, encouraged by China** and other factors. In 2024, chip production in Chinese mainland will increase to 8.6 million pieces per month. You must know that during the same period, the global chip production scale is only 30 million pieces per month.
Obviously, no matter how much the United States suppresses and contains, as long as China is willing to do something, no one can stop it. No, the rapid rise of China's semiconductor industry under heavy pressure has obviously made Hynix or other foreign chip manufacturers feel a chill.
Therefore, Hynix will no longer withstand the pressure of the United States to upgrade its chip manufacturing technology and output in China, and it will not be China's semiconductor industry that will collapse due to the suppression of the United States, but themselves. Therefore, in order to avoid the elimination of enterprises in China, Hynix must do everything possible to break through the political blockade of the United States, get relevant advanced equipment, and "extend the life" of its production line in China. Project Sword