Semiconductor stocks including those of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix fell altogether.
On the KOSPI and KOSDAQ stock market on Jan. 3, stocks of semiconductor giants and even companies producing materials, components, and equipment for chipmakers fell due to an anti-China export control issue involving Dutch semiconductor equipment juggernaut ASML.
On Jan. 3, Samsung Electronics halted its eight-day rally to close at 77,000 won, down 3.27% from the previous trading day. SK hynix also fell 3.93% to close at 136,800 won. The stock price of ASML Holding, which dominates the global extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment market, plunged more than 5% in the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 2 (local time) on news that some semiconductor manufacturing equipment has been banned from being exported to China.
According to the foreign news media, ASML reportedly canceled the transportation of some equipment to China at the request of the Biden administration. As a result, investor sentiment in semiconductor and technology stocks froze with the stock prices of Nvidia (-2.73%), AMD (-5.99%), Intel (-4.88%), and Lam Research (-4.34%) sliding. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell as much as 3.65%.
ASML Holding was initially set to export semiconductor exposure equipment to China. EUV lithography equipment is used to shed EUV light on wafers, a raw material for semiconductors, to etch microscopic circuits. However, the Dutch government revoked the company’s export permit, a move by the Netherlands, Japan, and the United States to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology, which created bad news for the stocks of semiconductor giants and even companies producing materials, components, and equipment for chipmakers.