KLA halts sales and support to China-based customers

Even South Korea’s SK Hynix will be included as the California-based company reduces its dealings with companies based in China to comply with recent US regulations, according to a Reuters report citing a source familiar with the situation.

China is a major market for KLA and brought in USD 2.66 billion in sales –  nearly 30% of the company’s total revenue – in the last fiscal year.

Under the new updated US regulations, companies looking to work with Chinese semiconductor manufacturers, with advanced manufacturing equipment, must first obtain a licence from the US Department of Commerce. According to Reuter’s source, KLA will stop sales and service to "advanced fabs" in China as of Wednesday October 12, 2022.

More specifically, this involves technology of NAND chips with 128 layers or more, and DRAM chips 18nm and below, as well as advanced logic chips, the report continues.

These supply restrictions include China-based operations, not just Chinese companies, which means that KLA will also stop supplying plants owned by Intel and SK Hynix.