Shares of South Korean electronics makers yesterday surged after Japan said it would roll back export restrictions of key semiconductor materials, laying to rest concern about the fragility of an important link in the tech supply chain.
SK Hynix Inc jumped as much as 7.3 percent, the biggest intraday rise in more than two months. Samsung Electronics Co rose more than 2 percent and LG Electronics Inc gained as much as 1.7 percent
Japan said it plans to ease licensing requirements on fluorinated polyimide, hydrogen fluoride and photoresists — all essential ingredients for the manufacture of displays and semiconductors that go into gadgets, including Apple Inc iPhones. The announcement was made during the first formal summit between the two nations’ leaders held on Japanese soil in more than a decade.
Photo: Bloomberg
Japan began requiring licenses to export the compounds to South Korean firms in 2019 amid a dispute over compensation for Korean workers forced to work in Japanese mines and factories during its 1910-1945 colonial rule.
The curbs roiled South Korea’s biggest firms, prompting Seoul to file a complaint with the WTO. While the restrictions did little to affect shipments of the materials, they were perceived as a threat to hurt Seoul economically, and helped drive the two US allies further apart.
A breakthrough came last week after South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said South Korean firms, rather than Japanese ones, would finance a foundation set up to address the forced labor dispute.
South Korea has also said it would drop its WTO complaint.
However, the thaw has just begun. Japan has not decided when it would ease the export restrictions. Nor has it decided whether to categorize South Korea a most-favored trading partner again, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura told reporters yesterday.
The three materials that had most concerned Seoul are controlled almost wholly by Japanese companies, such as JSR Corp, Shin-Etsu Chemical Co and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co.
Tokyo had expressed concerns about Seoul’s export controls when it tightened exports on the three chemical products. At the time, some politicians claimed that there were unauthorized reshipments of the chemicals to other countries, but Seoul disputed the allegations.
South Korea’s export controls have since improved, Japanese trade ministry officials said.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
Hong Kong authorities ramped up sales of the local dollar as the greenback’s slide threatened the foreign-exchange peg. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) sold a record HK$60.5 billion (US$7.8 billion) of the city’s currency, according to an alert sent on its Bloomberg page yesterday in Asia, after it tested the upper end of its trading band. That added to the HK$56.1 billion of sales versus the greenback since Friday. The rapid intervention signals efforts from the city’s authorities to limit the local currency’s moves within its HK$7.75 to HK$7.85 per US dollar trading band. Heavy sales of the local dollar by
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
RSS