US-China Fight Spreads To the Chip Factory

The Trump administration’s campaign against TikTok gets all the headlines, but the U.S. move last week to place restrictions on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China’s top chipmaker, could end up making a greater difference. From a report: Semiconductor analysts say SMIC represented China’s strongest bid to build a domestic chip industry and bolster its tech independence. Sanctions that cut off its access to advanced manufacturing and testing equipment from the U.S. could seriously set that effort back. The Commerce Department sent a letter Friday to U.S. semiconductor firms telling them they would need licenses to export some kinds of equipment to SMIC because anything they sold the company might be subject to “diversion to a military end use.” SMIC denies any relationship with China’s military.