Bloomberg reported on the 8th (local time) that the U.S. Joe Biden administration is considering additional sanctions against six Chinese semiconductor companies, including Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT), a major Chinese DRAM semiconductor company.
Bloomberg reports that the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) under the U.S. Department of Commerce is considering adding CXMT to the Blacklist (entity list) to restrict its access to U.S. technology.
The list includes Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei, Huawei’s semiconductor production partner SMIC, state-owned semiconductor company Shanghai Micro Electronics (SMEE), and Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), China’s largest 3D NAND flash memory manufacturer.
Bloomberg said BIS is also considering adding five other Chinese semiconductor companies to the list, and the final targets have yet to be determined. Neither the U.S. administration nor CXMT have responded to this.
CXMT is a DRAM semiconductor manufacturer established in China in 2016 to catch up with global DRAM manufacturers like Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron in the U.S.
Meanwhile, it is known that China is creating the largest-ever semiconductor investment fund as a countermeasure against the U.S.’s strengthened semiconductor sanctions.
According to Bloomberg, the Chinese government is creating the third round of the ICF (National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund), a semiconductor industry development fund, with a scale of more than $27 billion. The ICF had a second-round fund amount of 200 billion yuan in 2019.
Multiple sources familiar with the matter say the fundraising targets local governments, investment companies, and state-owned enterprises, and the amount directly invested by the central government will be very small.
Most Commented