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Samsung, SK Hynix Tests of Chinese Chip Tools Expose Cracks in US Export Strategy

South Korean chipmakers are evaluating Chinese equipment as a hedge against shifting export rules from Washington.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the two largest global memory chipmakers, have spent roughly two years testing chipmaking equipment from the Chinese firm Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC), according to local news reports. The trials, first reported by Reuters on August 5, amount to a hedge against tightening U.S. export controls that could eventually cut Western companies off from servicing tools already installed inside the two firms’ Chinese factories.

Samsung has denied testing AMEC equipment at its China site or considering such a test, and SK Hynix has not commented on the matter. Even so, engineers at both companies began qualifying AMEC’s etching tools around two years ago. At the time, it was unclear whether Washington would keep allowing imports of U.S. chipmaking equipment into China.

In 2023, the U.S. Commerce Department designated Samsung and SK Hynix’s Chinese factories as validated end users. The status let the companies import certain controlled American equipment without applying for a license each time. However, Washington revoked the status in 2025, then granted both firms a narrower annual license covering equipment imports for 2026. Each policy swing left the two chipmakers less certain their existing American and Dutch tools would keep receiving spare parts, software updates, and repair support. Memory-chip production lines depend on equipment calibrated with extreme precision and supplier uncertainty is difficult for a fab to absorb.

Alongside tightening U.S. export controls, China’s chipmaking industry has been making rapid strides. A state-backed manufacturer based in Shanghai began mass-producing immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines in late July, aiming to deliver roughly five units this year and about 20 in 2027 to three of the country’s leading chipmakers. The manufacturer has been identified as Shanghai Aishengna Electronic Technology Group, a company built by absorbing engineering teams from several Chinese lithography........

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