Shares in Chinese memory chip companies such as YMTC surged on Monday in Shanghai and Shenzhen on hopes they may be able to fill the gap.
China’s de facto ban on the sale of Micron Technology products in the country will likely push clients towards alternative suppliers, including Korean and local players, analysts say. In China’s strongest retaliation yet in the face of mounting US tech sanctions, authorities ruled that products from Micron, the US memory chip giant based in Boise, Idaho, endanger China’s national security and ordered operators of key information infrastructure to cease buying them. The move was described by some Chinese commentators as Beijing “showing the sword” to Micron. The US government rebuked Beijing’s decision. In a statement on Monday the US Commerce Department said the Micron decision and recent raids at American consultancy firms by Chinese authorities contradicted the country’s commitment to market opening and providing a transparent regulatory framework. Micron said in a statement that it will maintain communications with Chinese authorities. It told the Post that it is “evaluating the conclusion and assessing our next steps”. The Cyber Security Review Office under the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on Sunday that Micron had failed to pass a cybersecurity review, seven weeks after the regulator launched a probe into Micron products. China labels Micron chips ‘security risk’ but US government disagrees The Chinese government has provided few details about the probe, including which Micron products were involved in the review and how they were tested. The results of the investigation, which was relatively swift for such a large punishment, could close off China to Micron – a market which contributed about 11 per cent of the US firm’s total revenue of US$30.8 billion in 2022. Some Chinese observers have said Micron slipped into Beijing’s cross hairs after it made allegations against Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, once a rising star in the country’s efforts to catch up in memory chip production, which triggered a high-profile, trade-secrets prosecution by US authorities into the firm.
