(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- SK Hynix, a South Korean memory-chip giant, has secured a one-year exemption for its Chinese units from new US restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors and chip-making equipment, according to The Paper.

SK Hynix reached an agreement with the US Department of Commerce that permits the Icheon-based company to supply its Chinese facilities for a year without the need for special individual licenses, the report said yesterday.

South Korean firms are supposed to obtain individual licenses to use US chips and gear at their Chinese plants after the US Department of Commerce said on Oct. 7 that it would ban exports to China of equipment to make dynamic random access memory below 18 nanometers, NAND flash memory above 128 layers, and logic chips below 14 nm, as well as such products.

Samsung Electronics, another leading global semiconductor maker, is said to have received the same temporary exemption as SK Hynix, but has not yet commented on the matter, The Paper reported.

The two South Korean companies have been closely engaged in the Chinese market for years. Both own production bases in the country and sell more than 30 percent of their semiconductor products to China.

Editor: Futura Costaglione