U.S. export curbs halt new chip gear to China, stalling Samsung's NAND hub and SK Hynix DRAM upgrades. Impact on Micron, Chinese suppliers and Galaxy launches.
A. Krivonosov
The latest turn in the U.S.–China trade war has landed squarely in the semiconductor sector. This time the pressure is on Samsung and SK Hynix: new U.S. rules will restrict shipments to China of American chipmaking equipment. Their fabs can keep running, but without new tools, upgrades and expansion effectively stall. Import licenses will be revoked within 120 days, and any fresh approvals will be handled case by case, with no promise of a green light.
The hit is particularly sharp for Samsung’s Xi’an plant, which produces about 40% of the company’s global NAND output. SK Hynix also leans on Chinese capacity for DRAM. The most advanced chips, however, are made in South Korea and the United States.
Washington frames the move as a national security step: the goal is to slow China’s chip progress and block military uses. The shift could benefit American rivals such as Micron, as well as Chinese equipment makers, while South Korea is already in talks with the U.S. to blunt the impact. The message between the lines is hard to miss: this is about starving future upgrades rather than flipping a switch on existing production.
Complicating the backdrop, Samsung is preparing several headline launches—from the Galaxy Tab S11 to the Exynos 2600 processor, which could become the world’s first 2 nm SoC. It’s a delicate balancing act: growing the consumer lineup while managing mounting pressure on a core chip division.