Samsung, US set to compromise on provision of chip data

President Moon Jae-in listens to U.S. President Joe Biden during a multilateral forum hosted by Biden on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome, last week. Yonhap

By Kim Yoo-chul

Samsung Electronics and the U.S. government are looking to compromise on the latter's demand for the tech giant to hand over classified "semiconductor data" ahead of a Nov. 8 deadline.

On Friday, government and Samsung sources said the company backed by the National Intelligence Service, and finance and trade ministries, was holding "last-minute" behind-the-scenes discussions with U.S. commerce department officials. However, they added all parties involved have reached a broad consensus that Samsung will provide "second-tier" data regarding its semiconductor business.

"Talks are still underway, but the U.S. commerce department has stepped back from its earlier demand for Samsung and others to submit all first-tier semiconductor business data. Samsung will hand over data to the department by Nov. 8, but this will not include highly-classified information such as the names of clients, inventory levels and order volumes," a high-ranking government official said.

"Instead of submitting data, which would raise concerns about confidentiality, chipmakers asked the U.S. commerce department to step back from its tough demand to allow them to share second-level data including specific sales breakdowns based on different segments. Such a request was said to have been accepted by the department. An official announcement will be made after Nov. 8," a senior industry official said, separately.

The sources said Samsung and SK hynix told senior U.S. government officials that they will provide the maximum level of assistance to resolve supply chain issues. Samsung, one of the top foreign direct investors (FDIs) in the United States, is reviewing the possibility of manufacturing automotive semiconductors "for a while" at its Austin, Texas, plant.

To make its technology supply chains resilient and controllable after prolonged semiconductor shortages revealed the necessity of predictability to ensure parts were available based on reasonable lead times, and to maintain a high-level of utilization, the commerce department told all major chipmakers with factories in the U.S. to supply data on their operations.

Earlier, Korea's trade and finance ministries officially expressed concern over the scope of the U.S. demand for chipmakers to reveal inventory levels, supply times, order volumes and procurement practices.

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