Chinese chipmaker SMIC denies military ties as US mulls export controls
09 September, 2020
China’s leading maker of semiconductors has denied it has any links to the military following reports Washington is considering upgrading its feud with Beijing over technology and security by imposing export controls that could disrupt manufacturing for a national professional champion.
US regulators are thinking about adding Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. to a set of foreign buyers that require government permission to obtain technology or components, according to The Wall Street Journal and other outlets. They said officials are looking at whether SMIC is important in Chinese military development.
“We have no relationship with the Chinese military,” the company said in a statement. It said SMIC products are “solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses.”
The company said it really is “open to sincere and transparent communication” with Washington to solve “potential misunderstandings.”
SMIC is a leader in a semiconductor industry built up by the ruling Communist Party in an effort to reduce China’s reliance on foreign technology.
The Trump administration is wanting block Chinese usage of US technology it worries might be used to create weapons or develop opponents to American industry.
The US-Chinese tariff war that erupted in 2018 was sparked partly by Washington’s complaints about Beijing’s technology ambitions. AMERICA and other governments complain Chinese development plans derive from stealing or pressuring foreign companies at hand over technology.
Washington also worries about China’s development of long-range missiles, supercomputers that can be utilised in nuclear warhead development and other high-tech weapons. That comes amid tension over control of the South China Sea and other territorial disputes.
Washington has imposed similar curbs on usage of US process chips and other parts for China’s first global tech competitor, Huawei Technologies Ltd., one of the primary makers of smartphones and network equipment. That threatens to cripple Huawei’s business.
Chinese companies including Huawei are developing their own processor chips and other technology. But factories that produce them require American manufacturing technology that there are few alternatives.
SMIC said it previously was granted “validated end-user status” by the agency that could impose the export controls. Such status allows a Chinese company to export US technology without applying for a licence for each shipment.
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