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posted by martyb on Friday November 02 2018, @07:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the naughty-naughty dept.

U.S. Government Indicts Chinese DRAM Maker JHICC on Industrial Espionage; Bans Exports To Firm

The U.S. Department of Commerce [DoC] this week banned U.S. exports to a China-based maker of DRAM. The DoC believes that Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Company (also known as Fujian or JHICC) not only uses technologies obtained from Micron, but also threatens the latter's long-term economic viability and therefore could also be involved in activities that are contrary to the U.S. national security interests.

In the meantime, the U.S. Department of Justice [DoJ] has also filed an indictment against JHICC, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), and several individuals accusing them of corporate espionage and stealing IP from Micron. Between the two, the U.S. authorities essentially sided with claims that Chinese makers of memory have illegally obtained IP and technologies from DRAM makers from the U.S. and potentially other countries.

As a result of DoC actions against JHICC, all U.S.-based (and, actually, non-U.S.-based too) companies will require a special license for all exports, re-exports, and transfers of commodities, software and technology subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). DoC makes no secret that such license applications will be "reviewed with a presumption of denial", so it will be tremendously hard for JHICC to obtain practically everything, including Windows 7 licenses for manufacturing equipment and production tools themselves (ASML has a strong presence in the U.S., whereas Nikon Precision is based in California). Meanwhile, the whole situation is somewhat more complex.

Related: Tsinghua to Build $30 Billion DRAM/NAND Fabrication Plant in Nanjing, China


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  • (Score: 2) by RamiK on Saturday November 03 2018, @08:31PM

    by RamiK (1813) on Saturday November 03 2018, @08:31PM (#757373)

    It's not clear that there were "false 'national security' claims".

    Foreign trade isn't national security. Unless you need RAM to feed the people, fuel the tanks/planes or arm the troops, there are no national security issues. If you start expanding the definition of national security to non-critical industries, you end up with a police state working under a Juche ideology. And if you think its fine so long as they are profitable, I'll remind you of the F35...

    Keeping at least one local RAM maker seems a legitimate national security goal.

    If you're really going there then keep a small fab like IBM's SUNY Poly NanoFab for research and emergencies. There's plenty of aviation and automotive parts outsources to China that are similarly critical to "national security". What's the big difference?

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