South Korean chipmakers fear they could take a hit from U.S. sanctions on Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies that took effect on Tuesday.

The sanctions ban the export of semiconductors made with U.S. equipment, software and design to Huawei without approval from Washington. As such, world-leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have suspended their shipments to the Chinese company.

According to data by the Korea International Trade Association(KITA), China accounted for 41-point-one percent of the country's semiconductor exports between January and July this year, followed by Hong Kong with 20-point-eight percent.

During the same period, China took up 43-point-seven percent of exports of flat panel displays and sensors.

Should the U.S. sanctions remain in place for a year, industry watchers project South Korean chipmakers will suffer ten trillion won in export losses, which is about one-tenth of the country's overall chip exports in 2019.