U.S. ban on selling to Huawei takes effect Tuesday

화웨이 오늘부터 반도체 못 산다...삼성, SK 영향은?The global tech industry is about to see some major changes.The due date has finally come for the latest U.S. sanctions on Chinese tech giant Huawei... and a U.S. chip firm is about to complete a huge acquisition.Are South Korea's biggest chipmakers like Samsung and SK hynix going to take hit from these events?Kim Sung-min has this story.Starting from Tuesday, Chinese tech giant Huawei will no longer be able to buy semiconductor parts from major global firms, as the sanctions issued by the U.S. Commerce Department last month come into effect.Under those sanctions, non-U.S. companies are restricted from selling Huawei any semiconductor parts developed with U.S. technology.The sanctions could have an immense impact on Huawei, making it hard for the firm to acquire the parts needed for all kinds of its products, from smartphones and TVs to mobile communication base stations.And this measure could also reshape the global smartphone and semiconductor industries.South Korea's major chipmakers like Samsung and SK hynix could see a huge loss in the short term,... considering some 11-billion U.S. dollars of South Korean semiconductor orders came solely from Huawei last year.But in the long term, this could rather benefit Korean firms."Every year, there is a demand of up to 1-point-2 billion new smartphones, so other companies like Samsung can benefit by taking some of Huawei's share of the global smartphone industry. So although sales could decline in the first two quarters next year, they could quickly rebound in the latter half of the year."And Huawei is not the only factor shaking up the tech industry.American chipmaker Nvidia is soon to complete its 40-billion U.S. dollar acquisition of chip designer Arm,... radically changing the industry environment.But the outlook for Samsung Electronics is not all gloomy as the two companies are not exactly fighting for the same share of the market."Nvidia is a Fabless company..., meaning that it makes blueprints without producing. There are only two companies that can produce their products Taiwan's TSMC and Samsung from South Korea. Since companies will try to diversify their transaction routes, Samsung is expected to have more opportunities."In other words, the enlargement of Nvidia could mean a bigger customer for Samsung.In fact, recently, Samsung has started producing the American firm's graphics chips, showing how they could become partners rather than competitors.Kim Sung-min, Arirang News