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Brown and Toomey, oversees CFIUS and BIS, regulatory agencies highlighted in the Intel-SK Hynix memory chip deal. China’s antitrust regulator recently approved the divestiture of Intel Corp’s NAND flash memory arm to South Korea’s SK Hynix.
Semiconductor production has many vulnerabilities including sensitivity to supply chain disruption, the ability to compromise chips with kill switches and remote access capability, and geopolitical concerns about limited and unfavorable fab locations. Economist and semiconductor policy expert Jeff Ferry of the Coalition for a Prosperous America observes, “You cannot build any technology product without memory chips. The US is dependent on chips made in China.
“After the completion of the transaction, the main competitors in the SATA enterprise solid state drive market will be reduced from 4 to 3”, notes an unofficial translation of theon the transaction from China’s State Administration of Market Regulation . Other SAMR conditions include prohibitions against price fixing and help for an unnamed third/party competitor believed to be YMTC, though Zhaoyi Innovation and Changxin Storage could also be candidates.
Leading analyst Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis rejects SAMR’s portrayal of the market. “This makes very little sense given there are more players… NAND is a competitive market and does not have collusion. In reality SAMR is trying to open the doors for YMTC to penetrate the market.” Patel predicts a