Samsung Foundry is among the world's biggest semiconductor chip makers. It frequently upgrades to newer and more advanced chip-making equipment. Usually, the companies making chips sell older equipment once they are phased out from their lineups, but Samsung and SK Hynix have stopped selling their older equipment, fearing backlash from the US.
Older chip-making equipment from Samsung and SK Hynix could end up with Chinese firms
According to a new report from Financial Times, Samsung and SK Hynix have stopped selling their old chip-making equipment. They reportedly fear their old equipment could fall into the wrong hands and end up with China and Russia, which could lead to a backlash from the US government. The US has declared sanctions against China and stopped the exports of advanced semiconductor chip technologies to Chinese firms.
Samsung and SK Hynix are reportedly storing their older equipment in warehouses instead of selling it to traders who sell second-hand chip-making tools. After the US banned the export of chip-making equipment made by US-based firms or uses technologies developed by US-based firms, chip makers started storing their older equipment over fear of backlash from the US.
Some Chinese buyers are reportedly selling equipment to Russia, which could also cause issues for Samsung. The US has been pushing its European and Asian allies to tighten the restriction on chip equipment ever since SMIC developed a 7nm chip for Huawei. Samsung and SK Hynix are great sources for buying older equipment, as they frequently upgrade to newer machines, and Chinese firms are among the biggest buyers of such equipment.
SK Hynix is said to have recently restarted selling old equipment after it ran out of storage space for chip-making equipment. Holding onto older equipment could become harder for South Korean firms, as they have hundreds or thousands of chip equipment worth millions of dollars. It isn't clear what these firms would do in the future.
