In addition to its chipmaking facilities in South Korea and the United States, Samsung also makes memory chips in China. The facilities there are typically used for legacy products. However, new export controls imposed by the United States will severely diminish the company's ability to make chips in China. No equipment licenses will be granted for technology upgradesAmerican manufacturing equipment plays a vital role in the production of semiconductors. The US had previously authorized companies like Samsung and SK Hynix to receive American manufacturing equipment at their plants in China. Those authorizations have now been revoked. This means that Samsung will not be able to receive the equipment at its China plants. It will now have to seek a license from the US government to get that equipment into those plants. Whether or not those licenses will be granted remains to be seen.The US Commerce Department has confirmed that license applications necessary to operate existing facilities in China will be granted, no grants will be made for upgrading technology or expand capacity. So in the event some equipment fails or a need for capacity increase arises, Samsung won't be able to get US equipment. Samsung hasn't commented on the matter as yet, but it will certainly be watching these developments closely. These restrictions are part of the wider chip war that's raging between the US and China, with the former increasingly tightening restrictions to limit China's capability to produce advanced semiconductors.The post Samsung’s ability to make chips in China gets hit hard by the US appeared first on SamMobile.