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Always Be Closing – deals to grab that sweet, sweet renminbi:
The US semiconductor industry wants to have its cake and eat it, or rather it wants to have continued access to the huge Chinese market despite Washington's ongoing campaign to limit Beijing's access to advanced chip technology.
This latest turn in the chip wars is due to concern among US chipmakers over the rules governing what investments companies will be able to make in China. These need to be clearer, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), so that the companies know where they stand.
The SIA wants clear "guardrails" regarding the rules Washington plans to attach to the subsidies it will dole out as part of the CHIPS Act funding designed to boost semiconductor manufacturing in America.
US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo last year warned that companies receiving CHIPS Act cash would be forbidden from building advanced technology plants in China for a period of 10 years, and would only be allowed to expand any mature node facilities in China for the purpose of serving the Chinese market.
In an interview with Bloomberg, SIA president and CEO John Neuffer claimed that China was the semiconductor industry's biggest market: "Our view is that we need to play in that market."
The SIA said it just wants "clear rules of the road" so that what the US government deems a national security concern is well defined and the companies are able to take heed and plan ahead accordingly.
It isn't just US companies that are unhappy with strings attached to CHIPS Act funding. Semiconductor giant TSMC is said to be seeking up to $15 billion in subsidies to help build two chip fabrication plants in Arizona, but has expressed concerns about rules that may require it to share profits from the fabs with the US government as well as provide detailed information about its operations.
The 10-year ban on Chinese investments is a bone of contention for Samsung Electronics and SK hynix too.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by krishnoid on Saturday May 06, @04:51PM (1 child)
To mangle the quote, "
The Internettechnology interpretscensorshipsanctions as damage androutesfinds a way around it."(Score: 2) by gnuman on Sunday May 07, @12:54PM
The problem with China is that China does one thing and says another. At least with US policy, you get what you see. In China, not so much.
Furthermore, these are not sanctions. These are conditions of receiving subsidies in US. If they don't take subsidies, they can build plants in China.
Sanctions are what Huawei received. And you don't want to side-step sanctions, or you'll get sanctioned too.