S Korea Strike Threatens China Chip Production

A week-long strike by truck drivers in South Korea has disrupted shipments to China of a key material used in the production of semiconductors, the Korean International Trade Association (Kita) said on Tuesday.

It is the first concrete sign that the strike is impacting chip production, having already cost South Korean industrial sectors more than US$1.2 billion in lost production and unfilled deliveries.

Kita said a Korean company that produces isopropyl alcohol, a raw material for cleaning chip wafers, is facing complications in shipping to a Chinese company that in turn supplies wafers to chipmakers.

It added about 90 tonnes, or a week's worth of shipments, have been delayed.

The trucker union said in a statement on Tuesday it will continue its general strike and condemned the transport ministry for being "neither willing to talk nor capable of resolving the current situation".

The union is protesting against soaring fuel prices and demanding minimum pay guarantees. Four rounds of negotiations with the government have failed to find a compromise. (Reuters)

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