South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (left) and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Qingdao, China on Tuesday (9 August). PA
Semiconductors were the focus of South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin’s visit to China from August 8-10. Mr Park’s trip, organized in Qingdao, a Northern Fleet military port, took place in a climate electrified by tensions over Taiwan and a tougher stance on Beijing by South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl. But it’s a more economic issue that the head of South Korea’s diplomacy has had to deal with: the revelations ahead of his departure for Qingdao about Seoul’s interest in the Chip-4 project.
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The preliminary meeting of this chip 4, which promises to become a grand alliance in the semiconductor field, is scheduled for late August or early September. It should bring together the United States, champion of ecosystems and equipment, Japan, a leader in the supply of key materials, Taiwan, which is a leader in manufacturing the latest generation electronic chips, and South Korea, an expert in memory chips. with its giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. China sees this Washington-conceived project as a direct threat to itself.
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Mr Park made it clear to his host, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, that “the decision to participate in the preliminary talks is based solely on national interests and is not aimed at excluding or targeting any particular country.” Earlier, Mr. Wang had criticized the United States – without naming it – for “politicizing the economy, instrumentalizing trade and militarizing standards, undermining the stability of global production and supply chains.” He urged Mr. Park to maintain the “safety and stability” of these chains.
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The Chip 4 project between the four dominant countries in the highly strategic sector – these chips are found massively in household appliances, cars, telephony or even industrial machines – can be compared to the announcement on Tuesday, August 10th by American President Joe Biden , the Chips and Science Act. This text aims to restart semiconductor production in the United States.
The dissatisfaction corresponds to concerns from Beijing, which is heavily dependent on South Korea for its semiconductor supplies.
It is accompanied by an envelope of 52.7 billion dollars (51.7 billion euros) in subsidies, which should benefit the Americans Intel, AMD and Qualcomm, but also foreign companies such as Samsung. In order to benefit from this, however, the companies must commit themselves not to invest in China for ten years. Samsung could no longer expand its Chinese factories in Xian and Suzhou. The same applies to SK Hynix and its DRAM and NAND manufacturing facilities in Wuxi and Dalian. Enough to tighten up the measures Washington has already taken to restrict China’s access to the latest semiconductor technologies.
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