The US Commerce Secretary said he was working closely with allies to address “economic coercion.” Ms. Raimondo spoke at a news conference after a meeting of trade ministers in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework negotiations. She said the US “firmly opposes” China’s actions against Micron.
According to Ms. Raimondo, Beijing targeted “an American company without any factual basis” and considered this an act of “economic coercion” that “will not tolerate or think it will succeed.”
On May 21, China’s cyberspace regulator announced that Micron, the largest memory chip maker in the United States, had failed a cybersecurity review and would ban critical infrastructure operators from buying its products. This has fueled speculation that Micron will suffer a significant revenue loss. In a worst-case scenario, Micron could lose about 11% of its revenue due to the ban, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Mark Li.
The decision came a day after G7 leaders agreed on measures to counter “ challenges related to non-market behaviour” by China.
Ms. Raimondo also raised the Micron issue in an earlier meeting with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
Beijing launched its investigation into Micron in March after the US signed an agreement with Japan and the Netherlands – two of the world’s major suppliers of chipmaking tools – to limit exports to China. Micron does most of its manufacturing outside the mainland, although it has module and component assembly lines and a test plant in Xi’an. Customers in China and Hong Kong account for 16% of Micron’s 2022 revenue.
The US chipmaker has spoken out about the risks of the US-China tech conflict, including growing competition from Chinese rivals. The company even warned in its report that it could be banned from the world’s largest market.
(According to Reuters)
Source
Comment (0)