SEOUL, Aug 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – South Korean tech giant Samsung
Electronics, the world’s biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, is seeking
alternatives to Japanese suppliers for some key materials, it said Wednesday
with Seoul and Tokyo embroiled in a bitter trade dispute.
The row has seen the Japanese government impose restrictions on chemical
exports crucial to chipmaking and last week Seoul and Tokyo removed each
other from their “white lists” of trusted trading partners.
Two of the Japanese chemicals targeted, hydrogen fluoride gas and
photoresists, are essential to making memory chips, while the third chemical,
fluorinated polyimide, is used for high-spec TV screens and smartphone
displays, including hotly-anticipated folding models from Samsung.
Tokyo’s move has also raised international concern about the effect on
global supply chains and possible price hikes for consumers worldwide.
A Samsung spokesperson told AFP the firm was “seeking ways to diversify”
supplies of materials and components where it relied heavily on Japanese
imports.
Analysts have warned the restrictions — and reduction in the availability
of the materials — would “significantly impede” chip producers.
Japan holds a 60-70 percent share of the global hydrogen fluoride market,
according to Taipei-based market intelligence firm TrendForce, which could
make it difficult for Korean companies to find alternatives elsewhere.
But the Samsung spokesperson denied a South Korean media report that the
firm had decided to replace all the approximately 220 Japanese chemicals and
materials it uses for chip production with Korean or overseas products.
Samsung is by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates that
dominate business in the world’s 11th largest economy, and it is crucial to
South Korea’s economic health.