US Government Tightens Restrictions On Chinese Chip Company SMIC

JAKARTA - The administration of US President Joe Biden has stepped up pressure on China's leading chipmakers by cutting ties with its most advanced factories from American imports after producing state-of-the-art chips for the Huawei Mate 60 Pro phones.

Late last year, the US Commerce Department sent dozens of letters to US suppliers to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), which suspended permits to sell to its most advanced factories, said two people familiar with the matter seeking anonymity for not being allowed to speak publicly about the matter.

Although many companies have stopped selling Chips to South SMIC, the letters have stopped millions of dollars in shipments from chip-making materials and parts from at least one supplier, Entegris.

Entegris said it made deliveries according to valid export licenses and stopped it after receiving a letter from the Commerce Department suspending permission to ship the product to South SMIC.

The Massachusetts-based company, which produces filters, gas, chemicals, and products to deal with wafers, building blocks to make chips, said it was monitoring and complying with "rapidly growing regulatory requirements" for international trade affecting the chip industry.

SMIC did not respond to a request for comment. Huawei, White House, and the Commerce Department declined to comment.

"This is a clear and definite economic intimidation that will turn around," said a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington. "We urge the US side to stop coercion with the concept of national security and abuse of state power to pressure Chinese companies.

The suspension of licenses by the Commerce Department, which was first reported by Reuters, shows that the Biden administration has taken action against SMIC amid increasing pressure from Chinese Republican haters to stop the US technology from streaming to the company and degrade its ability to manufacture advanced chips.