Western States’ Alliance in Semiconductor Industry is Imminent

U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order in February to review global supply chains with regard to the four items including electric vehicle batteries and semiconductor chips.

Advanced Western economies are planning to form a joint working group related to the global semiconductor supply chain via the G7 summit with South Korea, Australia, India and South Africa scheduled for next month. European states are likely to stress the roles of South Korea and Taiwan in this framework.

They are predicted to call for more investment, and South Korean companies’ burden is likely to increase in terms of business relations with China.

“Experts in the 11 countries recently discussed various issues related to the supply of rare-earth elements, COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies as well as semiconductor chips,” the South Korean government explained, adding, “When it comes to the chips, they reached an agreement on the necessity of a scheme to stabilize the global supply chain and schemes for the same purpose are likely to be discussed at the summit in Cornwall.”

The agreement is to prevent export and import control and trade disturbance for national security purposes. It is pointed out by many that it targets China in the end. Once it takes a concrete form and China is kept at bay, it is highly likely to affect Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as well as the global semiconductor industry.