Korean IC makers to suffer from photoresist shortage
As reported by Korean news outlet etnews, the Japanese government is now regulating the sales of four types of photoresists to Korean chip makers, precisely at the wavelengths most needed for photolithography in wafer processing fabs, between 15nm and 193nm and between 1nm and 15nm.
Since Japan reportedly produces around 90% of photoresists worldwide, this ban would make it near impossible for South Korean tech giants such as Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and LG Display to source them from elsewhere in high volumes.
In the first five months of this year, South Korea bought $103.52 million of photoresists from Japan and $28.44 million of hydrogen fluoride, an etching gas used for wafer processing also being regulated. The new regulation is seen by South Korea as a disguised retaliation for recent claims the country made to be compensated by Japanese companies involved in war crimes during the wartime mobilization of 1937-1945 when South Korea was still under Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945).
The new regulation comes on top of new tariffs on South Korean high-tech products exports to Japan, and increasingly in return, Japanese brands are being listed for boycott by consumers in South Korea.
“Wavelengths of ArF light source and EUV light source that are used by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to manufacture high-end semiconductors are 193nm and 13.5nm respectively” etnews quotes Professor Ahn Jin-ho of Hanyang University saying. “It can be seen that Japanese Government practically blocked off exportation of photoresists by setting up range of wavelengths.”
According to experts in the industry, the country only has about a month of inventory in such photoresists and it could take at least five years to completely replace the photoresists currently regulated by the Japanese Government.
This new trade war if it lasts, could cascade into memory shortages (Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix owning almost 50% of the global memory market) and affect many businesses outside South Korea relying on the chips produced there, including Japan.
This is another blow to Samsung Electronics who recently made public its earnings and is already suffering from a semiconductor market slump? At $5.53 billion, Samsung reported an operating profit 56.29% lower than a year ago in the same quarter.
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