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from the you-want-us-make-our-own-instead-of-buying-yours? dept.
SMIC, the operator of the largest semiconductor foundry in China, has adopted a pivotal role in the ongoing multi-faceted spat between the U.S. and China. The company has become the focal point of a concerted effort by Beijing to maintain a continuous supply of semiconductors to the local industry even as Washington tries to thwart this flow, as evidenced by the Trump administration's efforts to block silicon heavyweights around the globe from delivering semiconductor components to Huawei or its affiliate HiSilicon.
Nonetheless, SMIC appears ready to deploy its added heft in order to secure economic gains. As an illustration, in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Sunday, the company revealed that it will raise as much as 46.29 billion yuan or $6.55 billion by selling new shares on the exchange at a price of 27.46 yuan per share. Interestingly, the latest financing target is more than double the 20 billion yuan that SMIC originally sought to raise.
[...] As stated earlier, leading Chinese tech enterprise have been subjected to a relentless volley by Washington over the recent months as the multifaceted spat between the U.S. and China continues to escalate. Back in May, the U.S. banned the export of any semiconductor that incorporated American technology to Huawei or its affiliate, HiSilicon. Given these evolving dynamics, Huawei is now increasingly relying upon the silicon components sourced from SMIC for the wide range of its products.
See also: How much trouble is Huawei in?
Intel resumes shipment to Chinese server maker Inspur
Huawei builds up 2-year reserve of 'most essential' US chips
Previously: China Lags Behind Other Countries in Semiconductor Manufacturing
China's SMIC Produces its First "14nm" FinFET Chips
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) Starts "14nm" FinFET Volume Production
How China Plans to Lead the Computer Chip Industry
TSMC Dumps Huawei
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 06 2020, @11:58AM (7 children)
China could easily retaliate by restricting the supply of rare earths to the US.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday July 06 2020, @12:04PM (6 children)
Instead, they are simply using their own resources at home.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 06 2020, @12:38PM (5 children)
War isn't really good for either side. I've seen some nutty conspiracy theories out there that the current U.S. coin shortage is due to govt. redirection of metals to military stockpiles as well as Chinese export cuts... I don't quite class those with the "WHO says COVID is harmless" crap that's circulating on Fecebook lately, but the truth is: even without bullets and bombs, the U.S. can hurt China, China can hurt U.S. - only idiots (on either side) would push for conflict because "we can win." Sadly, idiots are not in short supply.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday July 06 2020, @06:51PM (4 children)
I don't see higher usage of coins doing it either since cash is seeing a slowdown.
So something else is likely taking coins out of circulation. Maybe it's the next toilet paper. Or maybe the theory above. Though if it were that, you'd think they'd replace the coin they pull out with something less valuable.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 06 2020, @07:12PM (3 children)
The only explanation I've seen or heard is "as a result of the COVID crisis"... which I might almost buy as "the next toilet paper" but with a twist: people just aren't fishing around for exact change as much, nor returning coins to banks or other recycling centers as much, as a result they're building their home stockpiles of coins - perhaps without even thinking about it. I might have collected a surplus $4 in coins over the past 4 months, as compared to normal, but I'm 95+% credit based. Assume the "average" U.S. citizen is only 50% credit based and behaving similarly: $10 per month x ~300 million is ~$3B per month in non-returned coins. I can see how +$10B in non-returned coins could become an issue for the mints.
What I find incredible (un-credible?) is the fact that this trend should have been observable over the past 4 months and apparently nothing was done to manage it until banks started informing commercial customers a few days ago: gee, sorry, we're out. I know about the 1940-whatever pennies that were made of steel to divert copper supplies to the war effort, but I don't think I know of any time that the U.S. government was so soundly asleep at the wheel that they just hit the wall and said "oops, out of hard currency starting in 72 hours, sorry about that."
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 07 2020, @03:30AM (2 children)
To the contrary, it sounds like it was managed to some degree. After all, we didn't hear about it until recently. I figure people are less likely to hoard pennies now than when toilet paper was in high demand.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday July 07 2020, @01:57PM (1 child)
So, managed in secret, but we don't hear about it until the banks are literally out of coins?
Color me: unimpressed.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 07 2020, @11:26PM