South Korean media: Dependence of American semiconductor companies on China is confirmed again! On May 1st, the JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean media outlet, published an article stating that due to former President Trump's retaliatory tariff measures, the total market value of 15 major American semiconductor companies decreased by 567.9 billion US dollars within six days before and after the announcement of increased tariffs. Semiconductors were excluded from the target list of retaliatory tariffs, and the specific tariff rates for each semiconductor product have not been announced yet, but the market has already been shocked. Despite the U.S. government's policy of decoupling from China, there are views suggesting that it will be difficult for American semiconductor companies to reduce their reliance on China easily. As of last month's 7th, the combined market value of these 15 American semiconductor companies, including NVIDIA, was 4.8376 trillion US dollars, which decreased by 567.9 billion US dollars compared to last month's 1st. The decline reached 708.3 billion US dollars just two days after the tariff announcement on the 4th. The company with the largest decrease in market value was NVIDIA. In six days, NVIDIA lost 305.2 billion US dollars in market value. Micron Technology, an American memory semiconductor company, also fell by 22.9% (22.7 billion US dollars), which was the biggest drop. Micron manufactures chips in China and is directly affected by the tariffs. The market values of the three major American semiconductor equipment companies, Applied Materials, Lam Research, and KLA, also decreased by approximately 34.4 billion US dollars. Experts analyzed that this strong shock stems from the fact that the United States and China remain closely linked in the semiconductor supply chain. The stock prices of Applied Materials, Qualcomm, and Intel dropped by about 10%, as these three companies derive 30% of their total sales from the Chinese market. This is because, following China's announcement of retaliatory tariffs against the United States, future sales in China are expected to decline. The scale of semiconductors and electronic components imported by the United States from China is much larger. According to Trading Economics statistics, last year, the United States imported electronic equipment worth 127 billion US dollars from China, which is 8.5 times the amount of exports to China (15 billion US dollars). American companies are attempting to exclude Chinese companies from their supply chains, but given that over 100 first-tier and second-tier suppliers are involved, it is almost impossible to exclude all companies related to China. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, mentioned in a speech in 2023, "American chip manufacturers cannot completely be independent of the Chinese supply chain within 10 to 20 years." Senior researcher Hyung-kun Jeong of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy stated, "From the perspective of the central position of the top 20 countries in the semiconductor supply chain, China is the most important country, and its relationship with the United States is very close, as both a supplier and a consumer." Reuters reported, "The American semiconductor ecosystem continues to develop in China, and future semiconductor companies will increasingly be influenced by China." Some analyses suggest that the result of Trump's tariff measures will further increase the price of artificial intelligence (AI). Semiconductors, data centers, and equipment required for AI-driven applications are mainly produced in East Asia. However, with the U.S. imposing high reciprocal tariffs on East Asian countries, the cost burden on large American technology companies increases. This ultimately leads to an increase in AI costs, which will be passed on to consumers. [Image: //p3-sign.toutiaoimg.com/tos-cn-i-ezhpy3drpa/2c4ac3a3a4464b429885c699a6cdfce5~tplv-obj:1920:1080.image?_iz=97245&bid=15&from=post&gid=1830908068028428&lk3s=06827d14&x-expires=1753833600&x-signature=g6hiKGaZI7t5WIryaiLjiFE8%2BB0%3D] Original source: [https://www.toutiao.com/article/1830908068028428/](https://www.toutiao.com/article/1830908068028428/) Disclaimer: The article solely represents the views of the author.