SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) — According to SK hynix Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho, his company has halted all transactions with Huawei Technologies Co. due to U.S. chip sanctions against China in 2020 and has not provided any semiconductors to the Chinese smartphone maker.
Last week, the chipmaker revealed it was conducting an internal investigation into how its memory chips had been included in a new Huawei device, after Bloomberg News reported that the South Korean chipmaker’s DRAM — LPDDR5 — and NAND Flash memory are used in the Chinese tech company’s latest smartphone Mate 60 Pro.
“We have had absolutely no dealings (with Huawei),” Park told reporters before attending SK Group’s event at a hotel in eastern Seoul.
“We are looking into the matter,” he said, adding “Huawei’s new smartphone is a well-made product … and we need to more closely examine what type of DRAM is employed in that phone.”
Last week, SK hynix declared it “no longer does business with Huawei since the implementation of the U.S. restrictions against the company and with regard to the issue, we initiated an investigation to find out more details.”
“Also, SK hynix is strictly complying with the U.S. government’s export restrictions,” it added.
SK hynix ended its supply of chips to Huawei in the fall of 2020, after Washington banned the provision of semiconductors made with U.S. equipment, software and design to the Chinese company without prior authorization, citing security concerns.
At that time, SK hynix was known to depend on Huawei for some 10 percent of its sales.
SK hynix Vice Chairman Park Jung-ho speaks at the annual general shareholders meeting at its headquarters in Icheon, 56 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on March 29, 2023, in this file photo provided by the company. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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