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China’s Ministry of Commerce recently held a symposium with the country’s leading semiconductor companies to have discussions about the impacts of the restrictions imposed by the US and its allies on the chipmaking sector, according to Chinese news outlet Caixin and confirmed by industry siders.
The US export control measures involve the whole supply chain including chip design, manufacturing, equipment and materials, having brought great uncertainties and harm to the companies in the sector, and the harm has similarly impact the global semiconductor industry including US companies, said the companies that attended the meeting, according to the report.
The companies urged the two countries’ governments to strengthen dialogues and communications and resolve differences and mutual concerns through negotiations and make joint efforts to safeguard the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain.
Last Wednesday, a leading Chinese semiconductor industry group urged the US to refrain from imposing more restrictions on chip sales to China, warning of negative consequences for the global supply chain for microchips.
The China Semiconductor Industry Association (CISA) warned that any further US restrictions would undermine the globalisation of the semiconductor industry, according to a statement published in English and Chinese on Wednesday.
“Such damage may not only lead to the fragmentation of the semiconductor global supply chain, but also risk the integrity of the global market, and the prosperity of the global economy,” the group said in its statement.
Chinese chipmaking companies’ call came after the Semiconductor Industry Association in the US recently released a statement regarding potential additional government restrictions on semiconductors.
“Leaders in Washington took bold and historic action last year to enact the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen our industry’s global competitiveness and de-risk supply chains. Allowing the industry to have continued access to the China market, the world’s largest commercial market for commodity semiconductors, is important to avoid undermining the positive impact of this effort. Repeated steps, however, to impose overly broad, ambiguous, and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the US semiconductor industry’s competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty, and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China.”
“We call on both governments to ease tensions and seek solutions through dialogue, not further escalation. And we urge the administration to refrain from further restrictions until it engages more extensively with industry and experts to assess the impact of current and potential restrictions to determine whether they are narrow and clearly defined, consistently applied, and fully coordinated with allies.