The U.S. government has revoked waivers to U.S. technology exports granted to Intel, Samsung, and SK hynix that permitted these companies to export advanced wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) from America to their Chinese facilities. The companies now face a 120-day deadline before these exceptions are lifted, after which they must obtain official licenses to continue shipping tools and parts to their Chinese facilities, reports Bloomberg.
For Samsung and SK Hynix in particular, the impact could be severe as they run major 3D NAND production facilities in China and need to ensure that their Chinese fabs operate on advanced nodes. A significant share of their DRAM and NAND output comes from Chinese facilities, so without continued U.S. authorization, these production lines may face disruption, which will add pressure to global memory supply and potentially accelerate a shift of high-tech manufacturing away from China. After exiting both the 3D NAND and SSD businesses several years ago, Intel no longer produces memory in China (though the Dalian fab that belongs to Solidigm, an SK hynix company, continues to operate), but the company still has assembly and test facilities in Chengdu as well as Intel Labs R&D operations that need advanced tools from the U.S.
