could increase the price of RAM and SSDs due to a trade war between South Korea and Japan
Trade tensions between South Korea and Japan could cause a shortage of NAND and DRAM chips, affecting RAM and SSD prices.
The trade war between China and the United StatesAfter removing the veto on Huawei, it seems that something has calmed down. Now the tension seems to be shifting to Japan and South Korea. The countries are very close and between 1919 and 1945, Japan invaded South Korea. South Koreans consider that they have not been paid enough to compensate for this occupation. Everything seemed settled in 1965, but this conflict returns to the fore.
And surely you wonder, what the hell does this matter to us? As a result of this, controls are being made on imports and exports by both countries. A situation that could end in new tariffs between the two countries.
Trade war and tariffs between Japan and South Korea?
Here it is not the politicians who are to blame. The thing is, South Korean judges are imposing sanctions on Japanese companies, forcing them to pay large sums for the Japanese occupation more than 70 years ago. Japan considers that the issue is more than settled and in response, they would be imposing strict controls on South Korean exports. They could even be removed from the export white list.
This means that Japanese products sold to South Korea must be valued individually. This process usually involves a three-month delay in the shipment of the merchandise. This underlyingly affects the South Korean semiconductor segment. It should be noted that Japan produces 70-90% of polyimides. This is a polymer highly used in LCD and OLED displays, photoresistors and hydrogen fluoride, which is used in DRAM and NAND chips.
We add to this that South Korean companies store raw material for a month or month and a half at most. The three-month delay in receiving materials could be a real problem. It could seriously affect chip production shortly, specifically in a month or two.
It should be noted that 70% of DRAM memory is produced in South Korea. 50% of NAND chips are also produced in this country. So we could eat a new increase in RAM and SSDs shortly.
Something always happens, right? Touch your balls.
Source: AnandTech
