The US spared China’s top producer of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) from its latest round of chip export restrictions because of opposition from Japan, according to sources.
The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security on Monday imposed an export ban on China over 24 types of chipmaking equipment and three categories of software essential for semiconductor development. It also added 140 Chinese companies to the Entity List, barring them from accessing products and tools containing US technologies without Washington’s approval.
But missing on that blacklist were some of China’s largest semiconductor companies, including ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). Their absence was partly due to the influence of Japan, whose leading chipmaking tool producer Tokyo Electron is a major supplier to the Chinese firm, according to a person who was briefed on the matter but declined to be named.
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CXMT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The US had originally considered putting CXMT and 11 other Huawei Technologies suppliers on the list, according to a Bloomberg report. CXMT’s ultimate omission reflects the pressure faced by Washington from its allies to rein in its widening sanctions against Chinese companies, which are major customers of foreign chip equipment.
Japan and the Netherlands, both home to the world’s most advanced manufacturers of chipmaking equipment, were exempted in the latest updates to the US Foreign Direct Product Rule, meaning that sanctioned Chinese companies can still buy some chip tools from these countries. Meanwhile, equipment made in Malaysia, Singapore, Israel, Taiwan and South Korea is subject to control.
Despite Japan’s existing export restrictions on 23 types of chip-related equipment and materials to “unfriendly markets”, Tokyo Electron remains a crucial supplier to Chinese semiconductor foundries.
Revenue from China accounted for 45 per cent of Tokyo Electron’s total sales in the first half of its current financial year that began on April 1, senior vice-president Hiroshi Kawamoto said during a post-earnings conference call last month.
The Japanese company’s chip equipment revenue from mainland China has been the highest among all markets in the past three consecutive financial years, surpassing Taiwan, the US, Japan, Europe and South Korea, according to Visible Alpha, a research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence. In the 2024 financial year, equipment sales in China jumped 64 per cent to 813 billion yen (US$5.42 billion).
China has high hopes in competing with global peers in DRAM, which is widely used in smartphones, laptops, servers, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips – critical components in artificial intelligence (AI) processors. Key to that drive is Hefei-based CXMT, which began production in the second phase of its new plant in Beijing in February.
While it still trails US-based Micron and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, state-backed CXMT has been drawing attention for its surging share in the domestic market. Last year, the Chinese firm launched the nation’s first LPDDR5 DRAM chips, which have been validated by Chinese smartphone makers including Xiaomi and Transsion Holdings.
Despite the US concession on CXMT, the overall impact of the latest export curbs on mainland China’s access to advanced memory chips remains significant, as the restrictions cover all current HBM products, according to Taiwanese consultancy TrendForce.
The controls also extend to etching tools used in the production of so-called through-silicon via (TSV) technologies, which are vital for HBM production. The US measures are expected to make it far more difficult for the mainland to develop its HBM and artificial intelligence capabilities, TrendForce said.
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