Samsung scores a lifeline as it navigates Japan export curbs

Samsung Electronics has managed to secure an emergency supply of key materials to sustain its chip-making operations for the time being, averting short-term disruption from a Japanese ban of critical semiconductor and display components.

That temporary lifeline didn’t represent a fundamental solution, a Samsung spokesman said on Monday, confirming a report by Yonhap over the weekend. Jay Y Lee, the corporation’s de facto leader, had convened a meeting on Saturday with top management and asked them to prepare contingency plans, he added.

The Samsung vice-chairman ordered them to prepare for various scenarios, for instance should Japan remove Korea from its so-called white-list of nations not deemed to present a risk of weapons proliferation, the spokesman said.