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US President Joe Biden holds up a silicon wafer while speaking during the virtual CEO Summit on Semiconductor and Supply Chain Resilience from the White House, April 12, 2021. (AP/Yonhap News)

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix provided semiconductor supply chain information at the US government’s behest by the Monday, Nov. 8, deadline. Like other global semiconductor companies, they left out sensitive information when they passed the data along, sources say.

Sources with the Washington offices of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix said on Tuesday afternoon that the companies had submitted the data to the US Commerce Department. Specific client company information and other sensitive details were omitted, they said.

The US government had presented a list of 26 questions it wanted global semiconductor companies to answer, requesting information about client companies, inventory and sales. When the businesses balked at supplying confidential details, the government reportedly compromised, allowing companies to lump information together into categories such as “automotive,” “PC,” and “mobile” rather than providing detailed information by client.

The data provided by the companies may be made available for public viewing through US federal government websites. Samsung Electronics asked for all of its information to remain confidential, while SK Hynix provided a combination of data for public viewing and data to be kept undisclosed.

In its publicly available information, SK Hynix — which produces memory semiconductors — reportedly stressed that it bears little connection to the shortage of automotive semiconductors that precipitated the current supply crisis.

As of 11:59 pm on Sunday, a total of 19 global businesses and 67 universities had submitted semiconductor supply chain information to the US federal government website. The companies included the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which is the world’s top-ranked semiconductor foundry business, as well as the US company Micron Technology and the Israeli company Tower Semiconductor.

The number is expected to increase substantially with the inclusion of Samsung and other companies that submitted information by the Monday deadline.

The US Commerce Department is set to examine the information submitted thus far before planning its future course of action. A Washington source said, “Since the US government’s aim in collecting this information was to identify the causes behind the semiconductor bottleneck, the Commerce Department’s measures going forward are going to depend on how many businesses submitted information and how detailed it is.”

The same source predicted there could be cases where the department individually confirms information with companies or requests additional data as needed. US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a Reuters interview that additional measures may be needed if the data provided are not satisfactory.

But with the companies having already held intensive internal reviews in the weeks after the US government requested the data in September, it is unclear how receptive they will be to additional requests.

On Tuesday, South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Sung-wook was scheduled to meet with Raimondo in Washington to discuss bilateral cooperation in connection with the semiconductor supply chain.

Also to be discussed are measures to minimize the blow to South Korean steel exports to the US after a recent agreement between the US and EU on steel tariffs, as well as the creation of a senior-level body for South Korea-US dialogue on industry issues.

By Hwang Joon-bum, staff reporter

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