The chip war between the United States and China rages on. As the American chipmaker looms over possible sanctions in China, Washington is trying to get South Korea on its side.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is visiting his American counterpart Joe Biden this week. Officially to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two states, but most likely the presidents will also be talking about chips. The Financial Times writes that Biden will ask the South Korean president to join him in the chip war with China.

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Let’s give some more context. In recent years, many Chinese tech companies have ended up on Washington’s blacklist, including chip companies Loongson and Inspur, prompting trade restrictions. Now Beijing may want to give the United States a taste of its own medicine.

The child of the bill is threatening to become Micron, an Idaho-based manufacturer of memory chips. The Chinese tech regulator is conducting an investigation into all products with Micron chips on board, and it wouldn’t surprise anyone if this ended in a ban on the manufacturer.

Micron’s disappearance from the Chinese market would open the doors for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to increase their market share in memory chips. That wouldn’t be a bad thing for Samsung, as the chip giant has cut production due to a sharp drop in profits. But that scenario is what the US government wants to avoid, and by pulling South Korea on its side, Washington hopes China will face a chip shortage through self-imposed sanctions.

allies

In most cases, the USA also prevails in the search for allies. Previously, the Netherlands and Japan were persuaded to restrict imports of chip technology to China. The Dutch ASML, one of the largest manufacturers of chip machines, agreed. It can therefore not be ruled out that South Korea will soon have to fly the flag in the chip war under pressure from the USA.