<Anchor> In relation to the
US government's request for management data from Korean companies due to a shortage of semiconductors, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix submitted data without sensitive customer information. The US side threatened to take further action.
Correspondent Han Sang-woo.
<Reporter> The
data requested by the U.S. Department of Commerce from global semiconductor manufacturing companies are 26 items including customer information, production process, and order history.
The reason is to analyze the causes of the global semiconductor shortage and check supply chain disruptions.
Among them, customer information was particularly controversial.
Samsung, SK Hynix, and TSMC are doing large-scale transactions not only with the US but also with Chinese companies, and the US side also requested overly sensitive information.
A third of our semiconductors are exported to China, far more than the amount exported to the United States.
[Kim Hyung-ryeol / Head of Research Center at Kyobo Securities: The US is important to us, but China is also a part we cannot give up on, so we have to get on the line well in the end… .] In the
end, our companies said that they excluded sensitive internal information and customer information because it was impossible to provide contractual information.
The U.S. Secretary of Commerce said insufficient data could require further action.
In the long term, the US is highly likely to pursue a policy of mobilizing US companies such as Intel to increase its own semiconductor production capacity.
Therefore, it is interpreted that this data request is intended to put pressure on potential competitors.
China has accused the US of "obviously stealing confidential data", saying it could be used to tighten sanctions on Chinese semiconductors with data obtained by the United States.
(Video editing: Kim Ho-jin)