The United States announced that it is investigating China’s semiconductor industry.
According to a statement from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)’s office, evidence “indicates that China seeks to dominate domestic and global markets in the semiconductor industry and undertakes extensive anticompetitive and non-market means, including setting and pursuing market share targets, to achieve indigenization and self-sufficiency.”
“China’s acts, policies, and practices appear to have and to threaten detrimental impacts on the United States and other economies, undermining the competitiveness of American industry and workers, critical U.S. supply chains, and U.S. economic security.”
Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the investigation “underscores the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to standing up for American workers and businesses, increasing the resilience of critical supply chains, and supporting the unparalleled investment being made in this industry.”
The probe will “focus on China’s manufacturing of foundational semiconductors (also known as legacy or mature node semiconductors), including to the extent that they are incorporated as components into downstream products for critical industries like defense, automotive, medical devices, aerospace, telecommunications, and power generation and the electrical grid” and “assess whether the impact of China’s acts, policies, and practices on the production of silicon carbide substrates (or other wafers used as inputs into semiconductor fabrication) contributes to any unreasonableness or discrimination or burden or restriction on U.S. commerce.”
On December 2, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) introduced rules against China to inhibit its production of “advanced-node semiconductors that can be used in the next generation of advanced weapon systems and in artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing, which have significant military applications.”
