Sources: US chip equipment suppliers are pausing business activities and pulling out staff based at China's YMTC, following US curbs on China's chip sector
Tool makers are pulling out staff and pausing work as they assess the impact of Commerce Department restrictions on semiconductor exports to China
Wall Street Journal
Context & Ripple Effects
Commerce had already told US equipment makers not to supply Chinese fabs capable of producing 14nm-and-more-advanced chips in its earlier restrictions on advanced-fab equipment. The reported pullback at YMTC shows those rules reaching beyond future tool sales into on-site support.
YMTC's subsequent request that core US employees leave, covered in the later staff departure report, extends the disruption from suppliers' service teams to the chipmaker's own access to US personnel.
First-order effects
US chip-equipment suppliers halt work and withdraw staff from YMTC while they determine what the Commerce Department restrictions permit.
YMTC loses immediate access to the suppliers' on-site service and support personnel as the export-control assessment proceeds.
Second-order effects
YMTC's move to ask core US staff to leave compounds the suppliers' withdrawal, making personnel access another operational constraint alongside equipment access.
US toolmakers' later push for suppliers to find non-Chinese alternatives, reported in their supplier-sourcing directives, indicates that compliance pressure reaches into their upstream supply chains rather than stopping at customer deliveries.
Third-order effects
If supplier service, employee access, and component sourcing continue to be governed by export-control exposure, US and Chinese semiconductor supply chains will become more operationally separated, not merely restricted at the point of tool shipment.
The trend: Export controls are evolving from limits on advanced chipmaking equipment sales into broader constraints on the personnel, service, and supply networks supporting Chinese fabs.
@Techmeme @davemcclure Meanwhile building servers is blocked by basic components only manufactured in china. Seems like they could stop selling us pcbs and do just as much damage as we are.
“I believe the U.S. government intends to force the more advanced production facilities of Chinese companies like SMIC and YMTC to shut down entirely,” Gregory Allen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. https://wsj.com/...
Sanctions bite. “The U.S. suppliers have paused support of already installed equipment at YMTC in recent days and temporarily halted installation of new tools, the people said. The suppliers are also temporarily pulling out their staff based at YMTC.” https://www.wsj.com/...
“ASML US employees must refrain —either directly, or indirectly — from servicing, shipping or providing support to any customers in China until further notice, while ASML is actively assessing which particular fabs are affected by this regulation.” 1/n https://www.bloomberg.com/.…
This is a HUGE shock to Chinese semi industry. The onshore feedback is that China may have completely lost the ability to build equipment and factories for advanced chips. The US is determined to maintain an ABSOLUTE advantage over China in semis. https://www.wsj.com/...
U.S. chip equipment suppliers are pulling out staff based at China's leading memory chip maker and pausing business activities there, say people familiar with the matter, as they assess the impact of U.S. export restrictions. @Kubota_Yoko @raffaelehuang https://www.wsj.com/...
China's state-owned Yangtze Memory Technologies is facing a freeze in support from key suppliers following last week's sweeping curbs imposed by the U.S. on China's chip sector https://www.wsj.com/... via @WSJ
First ripples in China from the U.S.'s potentially tectonic new restrictions on semiconductor exports. Scoop via @Kubota_Yoko and @raffaelehuang https://www.wsj.com/...
Applied Materials cuts quarterly revenue, profit estimates on China export curbs | Reuters “also said it recently received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for District of Massachusetts requesting information relating to its customers in China” https://www.reuters.com/.…