Shares in South Korea’s top chipmakers fell on Monday after Washington revoked waivers that had allowed them to send US manufacturing equipment to their facilities in China without a licence.
SK Hynix shares declined almost 5 per cent, while Samsung Electronics shares shed more than 2 per cent after the US government said it was removing the companies’ “validated end user” status.
Former president Joe Biden had allowed the world’s two largest producers of memory chips to send US chipmaking tools to their Chinese plants without having to apply for a licence for each transfer, amid concerns that hobbling the South Korean companies’ operations would benefit Chinese rivals.