Samsung Double-Data-Rate memory modules are arranged for a photograph in Seoul, South Korea. Tokyo set Wednesday as the deadline for public comments on whether to remove South Korea from a so-called “white list” of trusted export destinations, a bureaucratic process intended to stymie weapons proliferation.
Stripping South Korea of its white-list designation could deal a further blow to Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The move could affect 97% of Japanese imports, though any disruption should prove short-lived, economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said this week. Japan accounts for about 32% or roughly US$3.8 billion of South Korea’s chip manufacturing equipment imports. The larger nation yields about 83% or US$422 million of its smaller neighbour’s display manufacturing gear imports, according to Lee Joo-wan, research fellow at Hana Institute of Finance.
Still, economists at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch see little chance of tensions developing into a full-fledged trade war.