China wants US semiconductor companies to submit sensitive data as part of probe — ‘anti-dumping’ investigation requests sales and profit data
China has launched a raft of new questionnaires for US semiconductor businesses in an effort to discover data on the companies’ activities in China, and particularly how their prices, income, and profits differ between native US sales and those in Asian territories, like China, via Bloomberg. Although no companies have been named specifically, the wording in the survey seems set to target major US semiconductor producers like Texas Instruments and Analog Devices.
This may also just be one more salvo in the asymmetric trade war that’s ongoing between the US and China ahead of proposed talks between the two countries’ leaders later this month.
The questionnaire was published by China’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Commerce and is said to be part of an anti-dumping investigation. It asks for the names of Chinese customers and transaction details with those organizations, including sales volume and the costs of logistics, as well as warehouse storage and transport costs. It also asks for details on raw material suppliers.
The questionnaire gives companies 37 days to respond, but with no specific companies named, it’s not clear who is being targeted. Because of that, most analysts believe this to be yet another move by China to build strength ahead of planned trade negotiations. It could also be a maneuver to gain greater control of American companies operating within the Chinese market, and could be designed to help curb exports from China.
Although the US has cut off China’s access to some high-end AI hardware and graphics processors in recent months, the battle over semiconductor supplies is now extending to more analog and older chip designs. Alongside a rush to develop powerful AI models and to build out the infrastructure required to run them, the US and China are pushing towards a multi-polar world of silicon supply chains.
As Bloomberg highlights, although some of these chips aren’t cutting-edge designs, they are still intrinsically important to a range of modern devices and other components. Analog chips can handle tasks like amplifying wireless signals and regulating voltages in electrical circuits. That makes them an essential component in the global supply of semiconductors, and another theater in the ongoing silicon trade wars.
Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
China Nature Energy Technology Holdings Limited’s (HKG:1597) price-to-sales (or “P/S”) ratio of 4x may look like a poor investment opportunity when you consider close to half the companies in the Electrical industry in Hong Kong have P/S ratios below 0.6x. Although, it’s not wise to just take the P/S at face value as there may
China and the United States are locked in a contest for technological supremacy. While it’s impossible to predict the ultimate winner and loser, this year’s Nobel Prize winners in economics may serve as a useful guide to where the two rivals are heading. The US is currently still ahead when it comes to science and
Soybeans: China imported no soybeans from the United States in September, marking the first time since November 2018 that shipments fell to zero, as per a report. The decline came as Chinese buyers continued to avoid American cargoes amid ongoing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. US Soybeans Shipments to China Drops to
Chinese scientists have created a superfast analogue chip that can solve complex maths problems for advanced scientific tasks and artificial intelligence (AI) while using less power than conventional computing, according to a paper published this month. The analogue device designed by researchers from Peking University uses memory chips made of resistive materials. With future improvements,
US President Donald Trump is expected to approach his coming summit with Xi Jinping by relying on personal chemistry and his “gut”, but his ability to charm the Chinese leader will be limited at best, analysts and former government officials in Washington said on Tuesday. The first meeting in six years between the heads of
China’s Chery Automobile is the latest to enter the solid-state battery race. The company claims to have developed a battery that can deliver more than double the driving range of today’s EVs. It plans to commercialize the technology in 2027, but it may remain elusive in North America. Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile claims to have
FILE – American flags are displayed with Chinese flags in Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) Beijing’s recent expansion of rare earth export controls appeared to intensify the US-China trade war, but analysts point out the dispute began with a US action in late September. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the
China is aggressively accelerating its ambitions in artificial intelligence, pouring unprecedented investments into research, development, and commercialization with a clear strategic objective: to dethrone the United States as the world’s leading AI superpower by 2030. This monumental push, underpinned by comprehensive national strategies and vast financial commitments, is reshaping the global AI landscape and sparking
