After Huawei Sanctions U.S. Escalates Chip War With China

The new export restrictions on chip technologies announced by the USA yesterday ensure a rapid escalation of the “chip war” waged with China. The big manufacturers not only saw their share prices collapse. One of the most important suppliers apparently has to take drastic measures as a result of the US sanctions.

As the Reuters news agency reports, citing employees of the company KLA Corporation, the US-based manufacturer of manufacturing equipment for the production of modern memory chips and other similar products are stopping the sale and maintenance of many of its products in China with almost immediate effect.

KLA To stop servicing and selling modern chip systems in China

According to the information, KLA will no longer supply any further systems to the so-called “advanced fabs”, i.e. manufacturers who produce NAND memory modules with 128 or more layers or DRAM chips with structure widths of 18 or fewer nanometers in China. The same also applies to more complex “Advanced Logic Chips“, which also include various processors with small structural widths.

The fact that KLA no longer supplies systems to China and also stops their maintenance in many respects will probably become a problem for Intel and SK Hynix in particular. The US semiconductor giant and the Korean memory specialist each operate their own factories for the production of memory chips in China.

According to its own statements, SK Hynix wants to try to obtain a license from the US authorities for the purchase of products from American companies that are urgently needed for the manufacture of its products. According to the US government, it wants to examine each case individually, with the Chinese manufacturers in particular probably not having a chance of obtaining equipment and other technologies for the production of advanced semiconductor products.