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☆ U.S. lawmakers ease proposed curbs on Chinese chips amid corporate pushback
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Alexandra Alper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Chips made by SMIC are commissioned by companies all over the world and can be found in products as diverse as cell phones and cars. They are difficult to identify because chips are not typically labeled with the names of the companies that manufacture them. Lawmakers are expected to announce final language for the final package later this week, which may include the revised measure. SMIC, YMTC and CXMT, the Chinese Embassy in Washington and the Chamber of Commerce did not immediately respond to requests for comment. SMIC was blacklisted by the Trump administration over concerns the company aids the Chinese military.

☆ YMTC could be added to U.S. trade blacklist next month: U.S. official
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Karen Freifeld | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Chinese memory chip maker YMTC and dozens of other Chinese entities are "at risk" of being added to a trade blacklist as soon as Dec. 6, a U.S. Commerce Department official said in prepared remarks seen by Reuters. Last month, 31 entities including YMTC were added to a list of companies that U.S. officials have been unable to inspect, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing and starting a 60 day-clock that could trigger the tougher penalties. YMTC and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. exporters must conduct additional due diligence before sending goods to entities placed on the "unverified list" and may have to apply for more licenses. Once a company is added to the entity list, its U.S. suppliers must seek a special license to ship even low tech items to it.

☆ China's YMTC asks core U.S. employees to leave due to chip export restrictions, Financial Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Chinese chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) Ltd has asked its U.S. employees in core tech positions to leave, as the company rushes to comply with the new U.S export restrictions, Financial Times reported on Monday. It was unclear how many U.S. citizens and green card holders would be forced to leave YMTC, Financial Times reported, quoting four people close to the company. The paper said several employees in China had already left the company. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China chip imports drop 12.4% year-on-year in September - govt data
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - China's chip imports fell 12.4 percent in September, according to official customs data published on Monday, continuing a decline amid tensions with the United States and an ongoing chip shortage. The country imported 47.6 billion chip units during the month, compared with 54.3 billion units in September 2021, according to the data, which had been due for release earlier this month but was delayed due to the Communist Party Congress. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterIn the first nine months of 2021, China imported 417.1 billion units of chips, down 12.8 percent year-on-year. Chip imports to China surged in 2021, as tensions between the U.S. and China over technology policy escalated and a global chip shortage caused many companies in China to stockpile supplies. Separate data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that domestic chip output in September fell 16.4% year-on-year to 26.1 billion units.

☆ China's YMTC denies report it took part in meetings on chip curbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Flags of United States and China displayed on phone screens in this multiple exposure illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on May 15, 2022. Chinese chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) denied a media report that it had participated in emergency meetings convened by China's industry ministry to discuss the impact of U.S. sanctions. The company in a statement late on Thursday described the report as "false and sinister," adding that the report had damaged its corporate image and would have serious adverse effects on the semiconductor industry environment at home and abroad. Bloomberg News reported that YMTC, along with a number of other Chinese chip companies, met with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to discuss the impact of recent sanctions from Washington on China's chip industry. According to the Bloomberg report, many of the participants at the meetings argued that the U.S. curbs spell doom for their industry, as well as China's ambitions to untether its economy from American technology.

☆ China holds emergency talks with chip firms after U.S. curbs -Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 20 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology convened a series of emergency meetings over the past week with leading semiconductor companies, seeking to assess the damage from the U.S. chip restrictions, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The ministry summoned executives from firms including Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) and supercomputer specialist Dawning Information Industry Co (603019.SS) to attend closed-door meetings, the report said. YMTC, Dawning and the industry ministry did not immediately reply to Reuters' requests for comment. On Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for his country to "win the battle" in core technologies in his full work report as he kicked off the once-every-five-years Communist Party Congress. Experts have said the work report could signal an overhaul in Beijing's approach to advancing its tech industry, with more state-led spending and intervention to counter U.S. pressures.

☆ Apple freezes plans to use China's YMTC chips - Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. tech giant Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has put on hold plans to use memory chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) in its products, after Washington imposed tighter export controls against Chinese technology companies, the Nikkei reported on Monday. Apple had originally planned to start using state-funded YMTC's NAND flash memory chips as early as this year, Nikkei said, citing people familiar with the matter. The chips were initially planned to be used only for iPhones sold in the Chinese market. It was considering eventually purchasing up to 40% of the chips needed for all iPhones from YMTC, the newspaper said. Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, while YMTC declined to comment.

☆ Apple freezes plan to use China's YMTC chips - Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has put on hold plans to use memory chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) in its products, the Nikkei reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: China faces its "Sputnik" moment as US export curbs deal a blow to its chip ambitions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The measures are set to undermine China's efforts to develop its own chip industry aimed at reducing its reliance on foreign-made chips. These are the questions," says Marco Mezger, a consultant in Taiwan who tracks the global memory chip sector. Washington is also scrambling to tackle unintended consequences of its new export curbs, people familiar with the matter said. Hours before the new restriction took effect, South Korea's SK Hynix (000660.KS) said it got U.S. authorization to receive goods for its chip production facilities in China without additional licensing imposed by the new rules. Yet business at toolmaking firms servicing Chinese customers has already slowed dramatically, leaving their staff with little work to do but creating an opening for Chinese equipment makers seeking to catch up with western rivals, sources said.

☆ Exclusive: KLA to stop sales and service to China to comply with U.S. export curbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The move underscores huge business headwinds facing chipmakers and chip equipment makers around the world, as the Biden administration published a sweeping set of export controls on Friday aimed at slowing China's progress in advanced chip manufacturing. The source added that the company would also cease supplying China chip plants owned by Intel (INTC.O) and SK Hynix, the world's second-largest memory chipmaker. SK Hynix reiterated its stance that it would seek a license under new U.S. export control rules for equipment to keep operating its factories in China. Another source at an overseas chip equipment company told Reuters that all of the major suppliers to fabs were working round-the-clock to assess the long-term impact of the regulations. Shares in KLA tumbled nearly 5% on Monday, hit by the latest U.S. export control measures.

☆ China tech shares sink as U.S. export curbs raise chip sector hurdles
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The most immediate impact is likely to be felt by Chinese chipmakers, they said. The new regulations will now pose major hurdles for the two Chinese memory chipmakers, analysts said. A steep decline in tech shares led China's market down on its first post-Golden Week holiday trading on Monday. An index measuring China's semiconductor firms (.CSIH30184) tumbled nearly 7%, and Shanghai's tech-focused board STAR Market (.STAR50) declined 4.5%. SMIC dropped 4%, chip equipment maker NAURA Technology Group Co (002371.SZ) sank 10% by the daily limit, and Hua Hong Semiconductor plunged 9.5%.

☆ U.S. aims to hobble China’s chip industry with sweeping new export rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The raft of measures could amount to the biggest shift in U.S. policy toward shipping technology to China since the 1990s. If effective, they could set China’s chip manufacturing industry back years by forcing American and foreign companies that use U.S. technology to cut off support for some of China’s leading factories and chip designers. On Friday, the Biden administration applied the expanded restrictions to China’s IFLYTEK, Dahua Technology, and Megvii Technology, companies added to the entity list in 2019 over allegations they aided Beijing in the suppression of its Uigher minority group. The “unverified list” is a potential stepping stone to tougher economic blacklists, but companies that comply with U.S. inspection rules can come off the list. On Friday, U.S. officials removed nine such firms, including China’s Wuxi Biologics, which makes ingredients for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine.

Companies are added to the unverified list because the United States could not complete on-site visits to determine whether they can be trusted to receive sensitive technology exports from the United States. U.S. inspections of Chinese companies require the approval of China's commerce ministry. Under the Biden administration's new policy, if a government prevents U.S. officials from conducting site checks at companies placed the unverified list, Washington will start the process for adding them to the entity list after 60 days. The United States removed a unit of Wuxi Biologics, maker of ingredients for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, from the unverified list. The company looks forward to scheduling an inspection of its Shanghai subsidiary, which also was placed on the unverified list in February, she added.

The raft of measures could amount to the biggest shift in U.S. policy toward shipping technology to China since the 1990s. If effective, they could hobble China's chip manufacturing industry by forcing American and foreign companies that use U.S. technology to cut off support for some of China's leading factories and chip designers. The rules published on Friday also block shipments of a broad array of chips for use in Chinese supercomputing systems. "The U.S. should stop the wrongdoings immediately and give fair treatment to companies from all over the world, including Chinese companies." On Saturday, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called the move an abuse of trade measures designed to reinforce the United States' "technological hegemony".

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