Japan's restricted export of key chemicals to South Korea might be a blow to Samsung, LG

Japan will restrict the export to South Korea of key chemicals used in the production of electronics, reports Japanese newspaper Sankei. This comes after a South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled last year that Koreans have not been properly compensated by Japanese companies for the forced labor during World War II.

The materials in question are fluorinated polyimide (used in smartphone and TV displays), resist (used when soldering chips to PCBs) and high-purity hydrogen fluoride (used in etching semiconductors).

Japan produces 90% of the world’s fluorinated polyimide and 70% of the resist, so it will be difficult for Korean companies like Samsung and LG to find alternatives. Japanese producers will need to apply for an export permission each time they want to ship one of these chemicals to South Korea. A permission takes about 90 days.

Until now, South Korea and Japan had an agreement in place that simplified the export procedure. Unless the issue is resolved, Japan will remove South Korea from the whitelist on July 4.

Source (in Japanese) | Via