The new U.S. chip controls against China (see 2210070049 and 2211010042) mark a “major escalation” in the U.S.-China technology war and will likely have a significant effect on China’s technology capabilities, Bank of America said this week. The bank also warned that the controls, which are “more comprehensive and stricter than what we have seen in the past,” could ultimately open the “door to more sweeping restrictions in other domains like leading edge manufacturing.”
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U.S. semiconductor company Nvidia is offering a new advanced chip to Chinese customers that complies with the Commerce Department’s new export restrictions (see 2210070049), a company spokesperson said Nov. 8. The person said Nvidia's new A800 chip, which recently went into production, is designed to meet U.S. licensing requirements. "The NVIDIA A800 GPU, which went into production in Q3, is another alternative product to the NVIDIA A100 GPU for customers in China," the spokesperson said in a Nov. 8 email. "The A800 meets the U.S. Government’s clear test for reduced export control and cannot be programmed to exceed it." The spokesperson declined to say if Nvidia had confirmed with Commerce whether the chip complies with U.S. export regulations. Reuters first reported the new chip.
As U.S. chip and technology companies continue to grapple with the U.S’s latest export restrictions on China (see 2211010042), a number of firms fear the controls will hurt their sales and exacerbate uncertainty in the semiconductor sector and the industry’s supply chains. In filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission this month, at least one firm projected revenue losses while others said they are still assessing the impact of the complex controls and whether they can secure export licenses.
U.S. chip companies may need to wait as long as nine months before the U.S. can come to an agreement with allies on multilateral China chip controls, Bloomberg reported Nov. 3. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, speaking last week to Lam Research, KLA and other chip companies, said the U.S. is working on an agreement with the Netherlands and Japan, but such a deal could take six to nine months, the report said.
The semiconductor industry was disappointed the new U.S. export control rules involving China weren’t imposed multilaterally and were frustrated by the Commerce Department’s lack of engagement before the rules were announced, a chip industry executive said. Semiconductor companies also have received mixed messages from Commerce about how long it could take to convince allies to impose similar controls, a China technology expert said, and fear that China could retaliate before allies are brought on board.
Chinese technology companies are “scrambling” to hire engineers from foreign companies that are closing their business in China due to new U.S. export controls (see 2210070049), Nikkeireported Nov. 4. The report said Huawei, Alibaba and other chip developers issued job postings after they learned U.S. chipmaker Marvell planned to lay off hundreds of workers in China. Some Chinese companies are offering to pay a higher-than-expected salary for these workers because “chip talent has never been in more demand and competition for hiring is intense,” a Chengdu-based recruiter told Nikkei.
Beijing-based lawyer Robert Lewis and Lexology on Nov. 3 published a summary and an outline of a recent Chinese webinar on the new U.S. semiconductor and advanced computing export controls (see 2210070049). The webinar, hosted by Chinese law firm Chance Bridge and Renmin University last month, discussed strategies for Chinese companies to manage the new restrictions. Speakers discussed how the new controls differ from restrictions placed on Huawei, what types of technology are subject to the new restrictions, how Chinese companies can work around the controls and more.
Qualcomm this week said it’s not affected by the U.S.’s new semiconductor export controls against China (see 2210070049) and that its business operations in the country remain steady. “The latest set of restrictions, we were not impacted by those,” CEO Cristiano Amon said during a Nov. 2 earnings call. “We have seen our business in China continue to expand.”
The U.S. and the Netherlands are planning this month to hold a new round of discussions on export controls, including restrictions to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductor technologies, Bloomberg reported Nov. 2. Bureau of Industry and Security Undersecretary Alan Estevez will travel to the Netherlands as part of the talks, the report said, as will senior U.S. National Security Council official Tarun Chhabra. The U.S. will try to convince the Netherlands to expand its export controls on shipments of chip technologies to China, the report said, although officials don’t expect an agreement to come from the discussions. The meeting comes as BIS tries to convince allies to join the U.S in imposing new export restrictions designed to restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors (see 2210070049). A BIS spokesperson declined to comment, and the White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.