U.S. chip makers are recalling employees from China’s leading memory chip maker, Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC), writes The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources.
In particular, we are talking about KLA Corp. and Lam Research Corp., which are suspending cooperation with a Chinese state-owned company after Washington imposed restrictions blocking the supply of high-tech semiconductor components and equipment for their production in China.
U.S. companies have suspended maintenance on existing equipment at the YMTC facility and have also stopped installing new equipment, sources said.
In total, dozens of employees of American companies are involved in the plant, who play a key role in maintaining the operation of the enterprise, having the expertise necessary for high-tech production, the sources say.
If these employees do not return to work, YMTC will not be able to modernize production in the future, and will also face difficulties when equipment needs to be repaired.
Under new export controls announced last Friday, high-performance computing, supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI) chips made using US technology can only be sold to China with an export license.
Washington also banned US citizens and organizations from working with Chinese chipmakers without special permission.
In addition, the US-announced package severely restricts exports to China of chip manufacturing equipment and technologies that local companies could use to develop their own equipment.
According to Boston Consulting Group estimates, US companies account for 41% of global production of equipment for the production of chips, China – no more than 5%.
