China hits back: Micron’s memory chips are banned

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the competent Chinese authority, has prohibited companies that operate and supply critical infrastructure from using chips from the American memory manufacturer Micron Technology in the future, as they are official justification according to the authority’s preliminary investigation, they did not meet the local safety standards.

According to the agency, the American company poses a serious security risk in the supply chain of China’s critical infrastructures, thereby endangering the country’s national security. The United States has gradually put dozens of Chinese IT companies on its blacklist since the end of the previous decade, citing national security risks.

Of all of them, Huawei Technologies was the most sensitively affected by the embargo, and has now convinced practically all of its allies interested in the (chip) production chain not to sell any equipment or technology to the Chinese chip industry.

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For Micron, the entire Chinese embargo is a serious blow, as around 10% of the company’s exports are currently directed to China (although a significant part of the customers are not Chinese entities, but companies manufacturing in China), in addition, the American memory manufacturer also has a packaging plant in the country – that it is not yet clear how the outcome of the investigation that has just concluded may influence its fate.

The US Commerce Minister Gina Raimondo reacted to China’s decision at the weekend, telling the Wall Street Journal that the US is firmly opposed to any “unfounded restrictions”, and that the ministry will immediately contact the relevant government agency to further clarify the situation.

Raimondo also stated that the United States will contact its allies in order to “handle” Beijing’s decision – according to some newspaper reports, the US contacted the two largest South Korean players in the market, Samsung and SK Hynix, even before the conclusion of the investigation. which he asked to ensure that the local market demands arising from the elimination of Micron were not met in China.