The US is considering unilateral restrictions on China’s access to artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips and equipment capable of making those semiconductors as soon as next month, a move that would further escalate the tech rivalry between the world’s biggest economies.
The measure is designed to keep Micron Technology Inc and South Korea’s leading memorychip makers SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co from supplying Chinese firms with so-called high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, people familiar with the matter said. The three firms dominate the global HBM market.
US President Joe Biden’s administration is working on several restrictions aimed at keeping vital technology out of the hands of Chinese manufacturers, including limits on sales of chipmaking equipment. This rule would deliver a new set of constraints against memory chips for AI, the latest arena of US-China competition.
Photo: Bloomberg
If enacted, the measure would capture HBM2 and more advanced chips including HBM3 and HBM3E, the most cutting-edge AI memory chips being produced right now, as well as the tools required to make them, the sources said.
HBM chips are required to run AI accelerators like those offered by Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Micron would largely be unaffected as the Boise, Idaho-based chipmaker has refrained from selling its HBM products to China after Beijing banned its memory chips from critical infrastructure last year, the people said.
It is unclear what authority the US would use to restrict the South Korean firms, the people said. One possibility is the Foreign Direct Product Rule, which lets Washington impose controls on foreign-made products that use even the tiniest amount of US technology. SK Hynix and Samsung rely on US chip design software and equipment from the likes of Cadence Design Systems Inc and Applied Materials Inc.
Micron, Samsung and SK Hynix representatives declined to comment.
The new restrictions are likely to be unveiled later this month as part of a broader package that also includes sanctions against more than 120 Chinese firms and fresh limits on various types of chip equipment, with carve-outs for key allies including Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, the people said.
As part of its comprehensive HBM-related curbs in the same export control package, the US plans to lower the threshold for what qualifies as advanced DRAM. A single HBM chip contains several DRAM dies.
New restrictions on HBM equipment and DRAM aim to deter leading Chinese memorychip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc (長鑫存儲) from advancing its technology, the sources said. ChangXin is now capable of making HBM2, which first became commercially available in 2016.
Biden administration officials also plan to create a list of the critical components that China needs to keep producing semiconductors. They are also eyeing what is called a zero de-minimis rule, an even tighter standard for Foreign Direct Product Rule under which any products containing US technology would be subject to potential restrictions. A large group of US allies would be exempted from that measure, including Japan and the Netherlands.
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
People walk past advertising for a Syensqo chip at the Semicon Taiwan exhibition in Taipei yesterday.
Germany is to establish its first-ever national pavilion at Semicon Taiwan, which starts tomorrow in Taipei, as the country looks to raise its profile and deepen semiconductor ties with Taiwan as global chip demand accelerates. Martin Mayer, a semiconductor investment expert at Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany’s international economic promotion agency, said before leaving for Taiwan that the nation is a crucial partner in developing Germany’s semiconductor ecosystem. Germany’s debut at the international semiconductor exhibition in Taipei aims to “show presence” and signal its commitment to semiconductors, while building trust with Taiwanese companies, government and industry associations, he said. “The best outcome
RSS