China’s imports of chipmaking machines jumped last year as firms ramped up investment in an attempt to get around US-led efforts to hobble the nation’s semiconductor industry.
Imports of machinery used to make computer chips rose 14 percent to almost US$40 billion — the second-largest amount by value on record going back to 2015, Bloomberg data showed.
The increase came despite a 5.5 percent drop in total imports last year, underscoring the importance that the Chinese government and the nation’s chip industry have placed on becoming self-sufficient.
Photo: Reuters
Chinese chip companies are rapidly investing in new semiconductor factories to try and advance the nation’s capabilities and get around export controls imposed by the US and its allies. Those curbs are making it harder for Chinese companies to access the machines needed to make the most powerful chips — and slowing the development of China’s high-tech sector, which is seen as a threat to the US.
China’s imports from the Netherlands soared last year ahead of new export controls, which would further limit the ability of companies such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯) to get the latest machinery.
Last month, lithography equipment imports from the Netherlands jumped almost 1,000 percent from a year earlier to US$1.1 billion as firms rushed to buy ahead of the start of Dutch restrictions this month.
Even before those curbs came into effect, Dutch company ASML Holding NV had canceled shipments of some of its top-of-the-line machines to China at the request of the US government. The cancelations came weeks before export bans on high-end chipmaking equipment came into effect.
However, China’s chip imports suffered their steepest drop on record last year, hamstrung by prolonged economic uncertainties and US export controls.
The value of integrated circuits imported by the world’s largest semiconductor market fell 15.4 percent to US$349.4 billion, the sharpest fall since Chinese customs data became available in 2004 and falling for the second straight year. Shipment volume also declined by 10.8 percent.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS