South Korea's semiconductors are decoupled, and Chinese chips are less dependent
With the withdrawal of Samsung phones from the Chinese market, and Korean car brands such as Hyundai and Kia, South Korean chips have also begun to withdraw due to their declining share of the Chinese market. Now, with the rapid growth of China's chip industry chain, it has gradually been freed from the dependence on the ** chain, and South Korea's semiconductor industry has also begun"Decoupling"。
According to data released by South Korea, South Korea's chip shipments will decrease by 30 percent by 2023 as the share of South Korea's chip exports to China begins to decline rapidly6%。Many in the Korean semiconductor industry believe that in 2024, South Korean semiconductor companies may be in a worse position.
Previously, data released by the Korea ** Association showed that the proportion of South Korean companies in China's chip imports in 2023 fell to 63%, compared to more than 10% from 10% previously, and the highest since 1993.
This is true not only for low-income Korean manufacturers such as Samsung and SK hynix, but also for the entire Korean semiconductor industry, for Korean companies, and for the Chinese market.
Chips are a global phenomenon involving many companies, and South Korea also accounts for a large proportion of them. In particular, the two semiconductor giants of South Korea, Samsung and SK hynix, are well-known in the world. Samsung has about 30% of the chip manufacturing market share, second only to TSMC.
In terms of memory and memory chips, Samsung and SK hynix have achieved a significant global market share.
However, in the medium term, the Korean semiconductor industry mainly relies on manufacturers such as ASML and Nikon in terms of semiconductor components, core technologies and semiconductor materials, while semiconductor raw materials are mainly imported from Japan. In terms of advanced process technology, although Samsung has mastered the 3nm process technology and is catching up, the yield and process level are still inferior to TSMC.
At the same time, Samsung and SK hynix are also adopting U.S. technology, resulting in South Korean semiconductor companies such as Samsung and SK hynix having to comply with the U.S. ban on their core manufacturing. The intent of the core U.S. ban on high-end chip exports is clear.
South Korean semiconductor companies account for nearly half of China's market share, and a steady stream of chips are sent to China every year. What's more, well-known Korean semiconductor companies such as Samsung, SK hynix, and many other industries have set up factories in China.
For example, SK hynix has ARMD memory chip factories in Wuxi and Dalian, while Samsung has a number of NAND flash memory chip factories in Xi'an and other places. The U.S. nuclear ban has also restricted the introduction of advanced extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment by these companies.
It is worth mentioning that the number of chips exported to the Chinese market has not increased significantly, although Samsung and SK hynix were granted a permanent exemption in November 2023. In fact, with the rapid development of Chinese chips, many domestic chips have been replaced by domestic ones, while South Korea's semiconductors are"Lost contact"。
The chips provided by Samsung and hynix for the domestic market are actually memory and flash memory chips. The demand for this type of chip is not very large, and the 7 nm process can basically meet most of the needs. It can be said that domestic chip manufacturers are moving in this direction at a very fast speed.
YMTC is the first manufacturer in the world to break through the 232-layer NAND flash memory chip, and Changxin Survival has also achieved rapid development in the field of ARMD memory chips. Prior to this, many domestic companies still chose to buy memory chips from Samsung, SK hynix and other companies, mainly because the domestic production capacity could not keep up.
But some time ago, China already had 42 factories and will add 37 more in 2024, indicating that China's chip production capacity is expanding and the pace at home is accelerating. Memory manufacturers, including YMTC and Changchun Storage, have also increased their production scale, among which Changchun Storage has not only completed the factory construction plan, but also purchased a large number of semiconductor equipment.
And now, we can already produce it ourselves, and in terms of technology, there is not much gap, how many companies will use Korean chips? Of course, South Korea's chips ** have fallen sharply with Japan"Decoupling", which is inevitable.
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