In a bid to dissuade other semiconductor manufacturers from getting involved with China, Taiwanese officials have decided to fine Foxconn a hefty amount for their unauthorised investments in a number of Chinese chip-making companies.
Taiwan, along with the US has been keeping an eye on China's plan to dominate the global semiconductor industry by unfair means and is tightening legislation to prevent what it says is China stealing its chip technology.
Foxconn who are a major supplier for Apple and manufactures various models of the iPhone for the Cupertino-based tech giant, disclosed in July that they were a shareholder of a Chinese chip conglomerate called Tsinghua Unigroup. The Tsinghua Unigroup is facing a number of sanctions from many countries across the world.
[...] Taiwanese companies need to seek approval from the Taiwanese government before making an investment, something that Foxconn failed to do. Taiwanese law states the government can prohibit investment in China "based on the consideration of national security and industry development". Violators of the law can be fined repeatedly until corrections are made.
Taipei also prohibits companies from building their most advanced chip foundries in China to ensure they do not site their best technology offshore.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RamiK on Thursday December 22, @03:07PM
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/foxconn-unit-sell-entire-equity-stake-tsinghua-unigroup-2022-12-16/ [reuters.com]
Btw, the Tsinghua group that Foxconn invested in also owns UNISOC which makes a lot of smartphones, tablets and handheld consoles SoCs in TSMC. So, I'm guessing Foxconn failed to report the purchase since they just assumed no one would care but then the new export rules landed and caught them by surprise.
Anyhow, more on point: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-imports-chip-making-gear-042249820.html [yahoo.com]
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