Dec. 23 (UPI) — The United States launched an investigation on Monday to read about China’s use of “extensive anti-competitive and out-of-market means” in its bid to dominate the global market for “workhorse” classical semiconductors and the effect on such measures. on the U. S. economy.
“Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking additional action to protect American workers and businesses from the People’s Republic of China’s unfair trade practices in the semiconductor sector and support a healthy domestic industry for foundational semiconductors,” it said.
He highlighted how “Made in China 2025” set numerical targets for China’s domestic semiconductor capacity and production, and said this reflected China’s dominance in the semiconductor sector.
The investigation will also initially assess the impact on U.S. commerce of tactics employed by China in the production of silicon carbide substrates, or other wafers used as inputs into semiconductor fabrication.
“This investigation underscores the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to standing up for American workers and businesses, increasing the resilience of critical supply chains, and supporting the unparalleled investment being made in this industry,” USTR Ambassador Katherine Tai said in a news release.
The USTR said China uses a wide variety of anti-competitive and non-market means, adding that “the Chinese Communist Party’s guidance, directives and controls within state-owned and private enterprises, the activities of state-owned enterprises or controlled by the state, markets restrictions and opaque activities. “Regulatory personal tastes and discrimination.
Other tactics include wage suppression practices, large state subsidies (adding allocated budget) and forced generational transfers, adding state-led cyberattacks and theft of intellectual assets.
“Evidence indicates that in just six years, China has virtually doubled its global share of basic logic semiconductor production capacity. Based on the new manufacturing plants announced, China’s share is expected to reach roughly a share of global capacity up to 2029,” the USTR said. warned.
He added that projections showed that China would also lead the production capacity of other types of classic semiconductors, such as power chips, and that this emerging dominance was already having a chilling effect, discouraging investments from the sector’s original players who joined to the rules of the market. walk.
The investigation will be informed through a two-month public consultation, scheduled to open for comment on January 6, and will conclude with a two-day hearing on March 11 and 12, the USTR said, noting that it had also requested consultations. with China, in accordance with US industrial law.
Monday’s announcement is an escalation of back-and-forth between the United States and China over the sector and generation in general, with AI a particular point of contention.
The Biden administration has introduced a series of ever-tighter controls on exports of semiconductor technology on national security grounds.