Chinese companies are buying US chipmaking equipment to make advanced semiconductors, despite a raft of new export curbs aimed at thwarting advances in the country’s semiconductor industry, a report said on Tuesday.
The 741-page annual report, released by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, takes aim at the export curbs imposed in October last year by the administration of US President Joe Biden, which seek to bar Chinese chipmakers from getting US chipmaking tools if they would be used to manufacture advanced chips at the 14-nanometer node or below.
With the US Department of Commerce using the 14-nanometer restriction limit, “importers are often able to purchase the equipment if they claim it is being used on an older production line, and with limited capacity for end-use inspections, it is difficult to verify the equipment is not being used to produce more advanced chips,” the report said.
Photo: Reuters
The finding comes as the US scrambles to figure out how Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) produced an advanced 7-nanometer chip to power its Mate 60 Pro smartphone at China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), despite the export curbs announced last year.
Huawei and SMIC were also added to a trade restriction list in 2019 and 2020, which in theory bars US suppliers from shipping some technology to the companies.
China watchers had theorized that SMIC could have made the chip with equipment obtained prior to last year’s rules, but it had other options for obtaining the equipment from overseas, the report said.
The US plugged a key loophole in its efforts to stymie China’s access to advanced chipmaking tools by convincing allies Japan and the Netherlands, with similarly robust chipmaking equipment industries, to announce their own restrictions on exports of the technology.
However, China stockpiled equipment by taking advantage of the lag between the US’ rules, and Japan and the Netherlands’ similar moves in July and September respectively, the report said.
In the first eight months of this year, China imported US$3.2 billion of semiconductor manufacturing machines from the Netherlands, a 96.1 percent increase over the US$1.7 billion in the same period last year, the report said.
China’s imports of semiconductor equipment from all countries totaled US$13.8 billion in the period, it said.
The report does not outline a specific recommendation to address the gaps in the US rules, but urges the US Congress to request an annual evaluation, to be completed within six months by the US General Accountability Office and later made public, of the effectiveness of export controls on chipmaking equipment to China.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS