WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Friday gave permission for SK Hynix and Samsung to supply their China plants with certain U.S. chipmaking tools, the Commerce Department said in a statement.
The notice from the Commerce Department authorizes the companies to continue supplying items without a license, allowing them to continue their big chipmaking operations in China without disruption.
Samsung Electronics makes about 40% of its NAND flash chips at its plant in Xian, China, while SK Hynix makes about 40% of its DRAM chips in Wuxi and 20% of its NAND flash chips in Dalian.
The companies together controlled nearly 70% of the global DRAM market and 50% of the NAND flash market as of the end of June, data from TrendForce showed.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Chris Sanders; editing by Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)
