A high-ranking U.S. Commerce Department official has indicated that Samsung Electronics and SK hynix can maintain their chip business in China, at least for now.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Alan Estevez, undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, said that the administration plans to extend the two companies’ exemptions to U.S. export controls on chip technology to China.

The Biden administration granted the exemptions to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix last October out of consideration of the companies’ hefty investments in the world’s largest chip market.

The U.S. export controls are intended to slow down China’s technological advances in the chip industry.

The exemptions were to expire in October, shutting Samsung and SK hynix down in China, where a majority of their chips are manufactured.

Estevez reportedly told a meeting of the Semiconductor Industry Association last week that the exemption would be “renewed for the foreseeable future.” How long the exemption will be extended remains unknown.

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix declined to comment Tuesday.

Samsung Electronics is currently manufacturing 40 percent of its NAND flash memory chip in Xi’an, China, accounting for 10 percent of the world’s total. An SK hynix plant in Wuxi, China is also responsible for about 40 percent of the company’s DRAM memory chips.

BY EUN-SOO JIN [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]