US says ban on US Micron Technology won’t be successful

Web Desk

Days after the Chinese regulator prohibited US Micron Technology from selling its memory chips to domestic consumers, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Saturday said the ban was unlikely to be successful as Washington was coordinating with allies to address Beijing’s economic coercion.

While speaking during a news conference after a huddle of trade ministers in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks, Gina Raimondo said the US “firmly opposes” China’s actions against Micron.

“These target a single US company without any basis in fact, and we see it as plain and simple economic coercion and we won’t tolerate it, nor do we think it will be successful,” said Commerce Secretary.

On May 2021, the Chinese regulator said that Micron, the biggest US memory chipmaker, had failed its network security review and that it would block operators of crucial infrastructure from buying from the company.

According to the analysts, there would be a limited direct impact on Micron, as most of its key customers in China are consumer electronics players. However, they also warned that the move could encourage companies to end their supply chains of Micron products due to the associated risks.

The development came a day after Group of Seven (G7) leaders agreed on new initiatives to resist economic coercion by China — a decision noted by Raimondo.

“As we said at the G7 and as we have said consistently, we are closely engaging with partners addressing this specific challenge and all challenges related to China’s non-market practices.”

Raimondo also raised the Micron issue in a meeting Thursday with China’s Commerce Minister, Wang Wentao.

She also said the IPEF agreement on supply chains and other pillars of the talks would be consistent with US investments in the $52 billion CHIPS Act to foster semiconductor production in the United States.

“The investments in the CHIPS Act are to strengthen and bolster our domestic production of semiconductors. Having said that, we welcome participation from companies that are in IPEF countries, you know, so we expect that companies from Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc, will participate in the CHIPS Act funding,” Raimondo said.