Semiconductors

Raimondo Talks Tough at Reagan Defense Forum But Challenges Remain  

Posted on by China Tech Threat
Last weekend Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo spoke at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum, one of the signature events on the national security calendar. As the name might suggest, the gathering is traditionally popular with right-leaning national security figures, so credit a Democratic Secretary of Commerce for making an appearance. While she did have comments worth applauding, it’s clear the administration is still focused on advanced chips and needs to broaden its focus to counter threats at the legacy chip level for the sake of our national security and economic prosperity.   CTT has long argued that U.S. semiconductor equipment companies are putting cash over country (see our report by that name) by selling some of the world’s most sensitive… Read More

China Inches Closer to Legacy Chip Dominance – Will the U.S. Government Act Fast and Strong Enough? 

Posted on by China Tech Threat
A collection of recent headlines reinforces what China Tech Threat has been warning about for months – that the world is increasingly at risk of relying on China for its legacy semiconductor needs. The news tells the story of China’s march to obtain total self-sufficiency in semiconductors. This month the world saw Huawei unveil a phone with a 7nm chip made by SMIC – a technological breakthrough that caught many by surprise. CNBC reports that revenue from China’s top chip equipment makers surged in the first half of the year. And Arrian Ebrahmi notes in The Diplomat that China is boosting the country’s tax credit for investments in semiconductor research and development by 20% – further incentivizing Chinese firms to… Read More

CHIPS Act Anniversary Arrives, Former National Security Advisor Weighs In

Posted on by China Tech Threat
This Wednesday (August 9), marks the one year anniversary of President Joe Biden signing the CHIPS Act into law. While it’s too early to judge if it’s ultimately a success or not, challenges persist, namely: U.S. export controls still ignore legacy Chinese chip manufacturers. Chinese chipmakers, including legacy leader SMIC, are growing stronger. Supply chain disruptions are front of mind. How do we ensure we have enough legacy chips for automotive, defense, and more if there’s another pandemic or global crisis? The U.S. military is still dependent on Chinese chips for mission-critical equipment. What do all these concerns share? Legacy chips. For these reasons and more, China Tech Threat recommended that when CHIPS Act funding allocations are made, that they… Read More

Why BIS End-Use Checks in China Are Useless

Posted on by China Tech Threat
By Steve Coonen Quoting an old Russian proverb, President Ronald Reagan once remarked, “Trust, but verify.” Reagan’s words may have been appropriate as the U.S. negotiated an arms control agreement with the USSR. But when it comes to inspecting how China is using American technologies, the U.S. government should adapt his words to go a step further: “Distrust and verify.” At their root, the Bureau of Industry and Security’s (BIS) end-use checks in China are practically useless. Under the terms of the U.S.-China end-use check agreement, it is impossible for U.S. export control officers (ECOs) to verify the ultimate destinations or end-uses of U.S. technology. With other countries, U.S. export control officers can conduct post-shipment verifications (PSV) with few restrictions… Read More

Scratching the Surface on Legacy Chips

Posted on by China Tech Threat
During Wednesday night’s Select Committee on the CCP hearing on “Ensuring U.S. Leadership in the Critical and Emerging Technologies of the 21st Century” Lindsay Gorman from The German Marshall Fund raised an important point. She said we must look at the CHIPS Act as a start of America’s recovery of strength in the semiconductor space, not an isolated initiative. Acknowledging that technology isn’t static, she said “we need a continuous iterative process where we evaluate to the best of our ability, what are the critical technologies of the future of the next 5, 10, 15 years? Where is China leading? Where are we leading?” Right now, America risks ceding the future of legacy semiconductors.  When it comes to semiconductors, the U.S. government… Read More

Will Japan Go Beyond U.S. in Semiconductor Export Controls?

Posted on by China Tech Threat
.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_630bf4-2c, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_630bf4-2c[data-kb-block="kb-adv-heading_630bf4-2c"]{font-style:normal;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_630bf4-2c mark, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_630bf4-2c[data-kb-block="kb-adv-heading_630bf4-2c"] mark{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;} Last October, the U.S. showed leadership on the global stage when the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) issued long-awaited export controls aimed to restrict the PRC’s semiconductor capabilities. Multilateral momentum followed with Japan and the Netherlands agreeing to limit exports of chip making equipment to China. More recently, The Financial Times reports that Japan is poised to levy export controls next month that go beyond U.S. action. This is notable because the U.S. focused on advanced chips while Japan is going broader and covering legacy chips as it would cover larger (45 nm) chips.  .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_8e2244-84, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_8e2244-84[data-kb-block="kb-adv-heading_8e2244-84"]{font-style:normal;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_8e2244-84 mark, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading_8e2244-84[data-kb-block="kb-adv-heading_8e2244-84"] mark{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;} According to FT, a Chinese chip factory executive said,“Japan’s export controls will be more disturbing… Read More

NO WEAK LINKS – New White Paper Coming Next Week

Posted on by China Tech Threat
On February 28, Congresswoman Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen asked BIS Under Secretary Alan Estevez, “How many PRC chips are you comfortable having in DoD systems and critical infrastructure?” In response, Mr. Estevez said that BIS focused only on high-tech chips, basically conceding that the U.S. government intends to do nothing to curtail the Chinese legacy chip sector. That means U.S. military systems may continue to rely on semiconductors from Chinese companies. (Learn more at EveryChipMatters.com.) This is a very big problem. Next week CTT will publish No Weak Links: A Strategy for Keeping U.S. Supply Chains Clean of Dangerous Chinese Technologies, a new white paper written in consultation with CTT Special Advisor Nazak Nikakhtar. From 2018 to 2021, Ms. Nikakhtar… Read More

Skirting U.S. Export Controls, China Stockpiles U.S. Semiconductor Toolmaking Equipment

Posted on by China Tech Threat
New Financial Reports Reflect Huge Profits from Selling to Chinese Chipmakers with Connections to the Chinese Military The White House’s June 2021 supply chains report noted that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) relies on the U.S. and a couple of other companies/countries to purchase the tools that allow them to manufacture their own microchips. More specifically, three U.S. companies lead the global toolmaking industry: Lam Research, KLA, and Applied Materials. According to White House calculations, the semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry is dominated by the US (42 percent market share), Japan (31 precent) and the Netherlands (19 percent), concluding that “although there is a Chinese company producing every category of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Chinese companies “do not have a notable… Read More

China Tech Threat’s Exclusive Interview with Congresswoman Radewagen

Posted on by China Tech Threat
During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on February 28, Rep. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen asked BIS Under Secretary Alan Estevez, “How many PRC chips are you comfortable having in DoD systems and critical infrastructure?”  We interviewed the Congresswoman afterwards to understand her perspective and what she hopes to achieve. Q1: What would you have liked to hear from BIS Under Secretary Estevez when you asked him “How many PRC chips are you comfortable having in DoD systems and critical infrastructure?”   “Ideally, zero. If that’s not the case, which it seems it’s not at all, it should be an active plan to move toward, not eventually but soon. We should develop clear goals and aggressive progress markers, including priorities… Read More

More Voices Call for Action to Stop Chinese Control of Semiconductors – Including “Mid-Range Chips”

Posted on by China Tech Threat
This week started with an unusual endorsement of active export controls by a prominent financial titan. Warning of the prospect of a Chinese-dominated chip market in his annual letter to shareholders, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stated: But China, using subsidies and its economic muscle to dominate batteries, rare earths, semiconductors or EVs, could eventually imperil national security by disrupting our access to these products and materials. We cannot cede these important resources and capabilities to another country. At the time, Ben Noon – writing a must-read story in Foreign Policy –offers a cogent analysis of a problem the U.S. government has so far little considered: how to stop China from controlling the world’s legacy chip market. Noon acknowledges… Read More