Although the United States has imposed a series of chip bans on China, the China Tech Threat website, which specializes in research on China’s technological issues, warns that the U.S. government is almost only concerned with restricting China’s ability to produce advanced chips, and the traditional chip market may be threatened. The conquest of SMIC, which has a close relationship with the People’s Liberation Army, has further affected the national security and economy of the United States.
A new report released by “China Technology Threat” pointed out that since 2020, the U.S. government has actively protected and set export controls on advanced chips below 14 nanometers, but has ignored those threats to defense systems, critical infrastructure, automobiles, medical care, etc. important traditional semiconductor products.
The report stated that the current U.S. government’s focus on China’s advanced chip manufacturing industry is too narrow. Instead, SMIC, which cooperates with the Chinese military, has the opportunity to spend billions of dollars to dominate the traditional chip manufacturing industry above 14 nanometers.
Although Chinese fabs are not the top in the industry, the 28nm circuit etching that is still widely used in automobiles, weapons and Internet of Things devices is not a problem for them. To cultivate Chinese suppliers, Xi Jinping’s government is stepping up support. According to industry experts, annual research grants and other subsidies have reached as high as 30 billion U.S. dollars; the 25th China Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Annual Conference and Supply Chain Innovation and Development Conference held in Huangpu, Guangzhou recently also attracted some major US semiconductor companies to participate.
The report warns that once the traditional chip field is controlled by China, the world will return to a China-centered but extremely fragile chip production supply chain, and Chinese technology companies such as Huawei will benefit from a stable source of chips, and the Chinese Communist Party will also There will be more new channels to spy on, hack and steal Western targets.
Under such circumstances, the U.S. military may have to rely on China to provide chips that are critical to various combat technologies and critical infrastructure, and the Chip Act, which aims to improve the competitiveness of U.S. chip manufacturing and strengthen the semiconductor supply chain, will appear It doesn’t matter.
“China Technology Threat” pointed out that the word “traditional” should not imply that these chips are not as important as advanced chips. Traditional chips themselves are also high-tech, and maintaining a stable supply is equally crucial to economic and national security.
The U.S. government has three remedies, the report said: first, implement meaningful export controls against SMIC and other Chinese companies; second, ensure that federal government contractor services cannot use Chinese chips in their equipment; and finally, use tariffs to Protection prevents China from dumping large quantities of traditional chips on the global market.