SEOUL—South Korea’s trade ministry said on Wednesday that the United States’ proposed rules to prevent $52 billion in chip funding from being used by “countries of concern” will not force recipients to shut down their China factories.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday proposed limits for recipients of U.S. chip manufacturing and research funding, including limits on investing in expansion in countries such as China and Russia.
The world’s largest and second-largest memory-chip makers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, have chip production facilities in China.
Samsung is building a chip plant in Texas that could cost more than $25 billion, while SK Hynix parent SK Group announced last year plans to invest $15 billion in the U.S. chip industry. Both may apply for funding….