The United States added China’s top chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp among dozens of other Chinese companies to a trade blacklist on Friday, restricting American firms from selling products to these companies on national security grounds…Adding SMIC, the Shanghai-based state-owned chip maker, to the list limits the company’s ability to buy key components from US suppliers that are crucial to build advanced chipsets. [Commerce Secretary] Ross said the government would presumptively deny licenses to prevent SMIC from accessing technology to produce semiconductors at advanced technology levels – 10 nanometres or below.
(SCMP, Dec 18)
Brady Wang:
- This was just a matter of time. The government was likely slow to implement to ensure business continuity for domestic firms.
- Obviously this will constrain the supply of 8-inch capacity further, impacting not only CE but also automotive.
- However, I see limited impact for IoT and storage.