Friday, July 5th 2019
Japan and South Korea Disagreements Could Compromise Global Memory Supply
According to Nikkei, the newly established trade limitations between Japan and South Korea, could end up compromising global memory supply by simply restricting chemicals export. As the report says, Japan has limited its export of three vital chemicals (like orthophosphoric, hydrobromic and citric acid) used in semiconductor manufacturing, to South Korea.
Unlike before, a company that exports a chemical, now has to ask for a permission from the Japanese government, so it could supply the semiconductor foundries in South Korea. The end result of such move could be severely damaged global memory supply, as over 70% of DRAM and over 50% of NAND memory is manufactured in South Korea. Government processing of applications for exporting chemicals is estimated to take about three months, while the memory makers usually only hold around one of two months of extra supply for manufacturing. SK Hynix, a third biggest memory manufacturer by revenue, said that if it doesn't get enough stock of materials, it would have to halt production. Samsung is asserting the situation for now, without any elaboration on that. These events could lead to increased memory price and overall less supply.
Source:
Nikkei
Unlike before, a company that exports a chemical, now has to ask for a permission from the Japanese government, so it could supply the semiconductor foundries in South Korea. The end result of such move could be severely damaged global memory supply, as over 70% of DRAM and over 50% of NAND memory is manufactured in South Korea. Government processing of applications for exporting chemicals is estimated to take about three months, while the memory makers usually only hold around one of two months of extra supply for manufacturing. SK Hynix, a third biggest memory manufacturer by revenue, said that if it doesn't get enough stock of materials, it would have to halt production. Samsung is asserting the situation for now, without any elaboration on that. These events could lead to increased memory price and overall less supply.
38 Comments on Japan and South Korea Disagreements Could Compromise Global Memory Supply
Its not an Embargoed Commodity its Available on the world market.
This Quest to find Reason's to keep IC Prices high is getting beyond a joke
There's always, within a matter of a few months, a sudden influx of TERRIBLE THINGS happening in the memory industry that lead to a shortage or a problem or a SUDDEN NEED to increase prices?
It's almost conspiratorially convenient, almost.
As far as "asserting the situation", it's really simple - the manufacturers in Korea are either reevaluating where they can get the resources they need or evaluating the possibility of lobbying to their government to appease Japan to get the trade going again. Political differences have never gotten in the way of business even during crises in the history of mankind. Business will resume, someway and somehow.
The insinuation that both countries are doing this to raise profit margins by these means shows a lack of knowledge about the regional politics, business tactics, and history.
*My 2 cents (opinion, off topic):
For a country that has gone through destruction of their land from a proxy war (1950 - 1953) after coming out of Japanese occupation (1910 - 1945), they [Koreans] sure have worked their asses off to be where they are now. It's a shame that Japan's government would inject itself to deter trade due to their perceived slights arising from the disagreements between both countries. Shenanigans like these are used to escalate tensions for the sole purpose of attention (North Korea and their "threats" or perceived "enemies" and Iran come to mind). "Why does the Japanese government need this?" is the real question. To me, this seems really petulant by Japan.
Oh, well. I guess I'll have to buy memory earlier than expected.
Still as i said
""Its not an Embargoed Commodity its Available on the world market""
" NOOOOO! We need a crisis immediately! "
" Floods, power outtages, politics, WW3, asteroids, alliens, black holes, get on it! "
We had the "power outage", now we have political arguments, next they are going to need a big fire or natural disaster to really ensure their profits for the next 5 years.
Japan and South Korea: "Hold my sushi!"
Yeah, no.
There's been plenty of suspicious shit out of Korean NAND and memory foundries. This isn't one.
1. Power outage
2. Fire
3. Flooding
4. Contamination
5. Lack of supply due to political struggle.
6. Back to No.1
I posted something the other day about recognizing sources for credibility... here you see how bad it is with general comprehension of all the things.
Scary.
But at least you and I can stand back and laugh at the ignorant crazy stuff people here say, even if we have no money because everything is so expensive. Still, I feel good for being poor, as I have done my bit to help these corporations make their meagre profits. I just can't live with myself when I hear of CEOs not getting their hard earned 7 digit bonuses, think of their poor families... I shiver at the thought... And those government fines they received in the past for doing things made up by the same kind of ignorant thinking, such as displayed in this forum... Just shameful that it resulted in fines! Well, at least we have paid to make up for it by now, and can look down on these negative people.
Shame on all the negative people here, shame on you!
Enemy of my enemy is a powerful motivator. Especially if there is enough reason to do so. Course besides that there are those with more money and power than they should ever have, funneling it into all sorts of conflicts...
It isn't a stretch to think Japan and Korea would work together on a deeper level. Saving face is big in Asian cultures. They often will behave in secret differently than public. Just, until there is a deeper analysis of what is going on, I'd refrain from outright dubbing this more price fixing. Japan thinks it has some leverage and likely more of a reason to suggest it against Korea. However, I don't doubt we'll see a 3rd round of price fixing from the DRAM makers eventually. They've been caught so many times before, they'll do it again. Business ethics and Asia is often two things that rarely go well together. Heck if you look back in Japan's boom era, their companies were known to hire sex workers to come in for the employees and all sorts of shady stuff. Asia always likes to keep a clean public image despite the seedy underbelly that does exist.