How the U.S. Crushed Japan's Semiconductor Industry: Could Samsung and SK Hynix Be Next?

An unexpected warning has been issued regarding the South Korean semiconductor industry, which has been breaking all-time performance records day after day, fueled by the AI chip boom.

Japanese media has raised concerns that the overwhelming market dominance of South Korean companies could eventually lead to serious trade friction with the United States.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun analyzed that South Korean firms currently control 60% of the global memory semiconductor market, and that the DRAM market share of the three major players, including U.S.-based Micron, has reached a staggering 90%.

In fact, this oligopolistic structure has already sparked legal disputes in the United States.

Consumers and small businesses have filed a lawsuit for damages against Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron, alleging that the companies artificially inflated prices by reducing the supply of general-purpose DRAM under the pretext of increasing production of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM).

Experts warn that if the supply of AI memory becomes overly concentrated in South Korea, the U.S.-Japan semiconductor dispute that shook the world in the 1980s could be repeated.

At that time, the U.S. exerted intense trade pressure on Japanese semiconductor companies that dominated the global market, eventually forcing them to open their markets and accept price regulations through a semiconductor agreement.

This is why there are concerns that if South Korea's dominance in the semiconductor sector continues, the U.S. government could pull out trade pressure cards, such as demanding the relocation of factories to the U.S. or requiring additional investments.

Ironically, while the U.S. containment of Japan in the past served as a stepping stone for South Korea and Taiwan to emerge as semiconductor powerhouses, observers point out that we could now become the target of such containment.

Furthermore, concerns over a supply glut due to large-scale facility expansions are also acting as a drag.

As Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to invest 800 trillion won to build four new factories in South Korea, some observers predict that market conditions could deteriorate rapidly in the future.

In fact, even after Samsung Electronics recorded a historic earnings surprise in the second quarter, with operating profit soaring more than 1,800% compared to the previous year, its stock price plunged by over 8% in a single day as these future trade risks and concerns over oversupply were reflected in the market.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.