US Moves to Tighten Sanctions on Chinese Semiconductor Firms... Disagreement Over Timing

FT: "Considering Adding CXMT and Others to Export Ban List"

The Financial Times (FT) reported on May 15 (local time) that the Donald Trump administration is considering additional sanctions against Chinese semiconductor companies.

According to sources, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is considering adding Chinese semiconductor company Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to its "blacklist." The sources added that, in addition to CXMT, subsidiaries of China's largest foundry company SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) and memory chip company YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies) are also being considered for sanctions.

However, FT reported that there are differing opinions within the Trump administration regarding the timing of the implementation of additional sanctions.

The United States and China, which had previously imposed ultra-high tariffs of over 100% on each other, have entered a "tariff truce" by agreeing to lower a significant portion of tariffs for 90 days. FT reported that some U.S. officials believe that adding China's key semiconductor companies to the sanctions list at this time could affect future negotiations with China.

Hardliners in the United States have argued that CXMT, which has recently been rapidly increasing its share of the global DRAM market, should be included in the sanctions list. CXMT has also recently begun developing high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is essential for artificial intelligence (AI) model development.

If CXMT and other companies are included in the U.S. government's sanctions list, American firms will be prohibited from doing business with these companies without government approval. The Chinese Embassy in the United States stated its position on the matter, saying, "China strongly opposes the United States' excessive application of the concept of national security, its abuse of export controls, and its malicious obstruction and suppression of China." The U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House declined to comment, according to FT.