China’s our on-line world regulator will conduct a cybersecurity assessment of merchandise offered within the nation by US reminiscence chip producer Micron Technology, the regulator stated on Friday.
The transfer, which comes amid a spat over chip expertise between Washington and Beijing, is geared toward defending the safety of the provision chain for essential data infrastructure, stop hidden dangers and safeguard nationwide safety, the Cyberspace Administration of China stated in a short assertion.
It gave no different particulars, together with which Micron merchandise it was reviewing.
The United States has imposed a sequence of export controls on chipmaking expertise to China for worry it could possibly be used to supply chips for functions comparable to synthetic intelligence which could possibly be utilized by China’s army, and blacklisted a variety of China’s largest chip corporations, together with Micron rival Yangtze Memory Technologies Co Ltd.
Micron, one of many world’s largest reminiscence chip makers, didn’t reply instantly to a request for remark. The firm’s shares fell 3 p.c on Friday.
“Punitive actions against Micron could suggest a broader shift in Chinese policy with other US vendors with large Chinese exposure now potentially at risk of similar actions,” Wedbush Securities analyst Matthew Bryson stated.
On Friday, Japan introduced it could align its expertise commerce controls with a US push to curb China’s means to make superior chips. The Netherlands, which makes superior lithography gear essential for the manufacture of superior chips, made an identical announcement earlier this month.
Weak shopper demand has roiled the reminiscence chip market, which is dominated by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.
Micron derives round 10 p.c of its income from China, nevertheless it was not clear if the assessment would have an effect on the corporate’s gross sales to non-Chinese prospects within the nation.
The bigger chunk of the corporate’s merchandise flowing into China are being bought by non-Chinese corporations to be used in merchandise manufactured within the nation, in response to analysts.
Micron has workplaces in Shanghai and Shenzhen, in addition to a chip packaging facility within the metropolis of Xian. In early 2022, the corporate introduced it could shut its DRAM design operations in Shanghai.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
