SEMI warns Trump administration not to blacklist SMIC

SMM News: (SEMI), the International Semiconductor Industry Association, drafted a letter warning the Trump administration that if SMIC, the largest chipmaker in mainland China, is included in the trade blacklist, it will damage the technological advantage of the United States, which in turn will affect the market share of American companies.

It is reported that the warning letter will be sent to US Commerce Secretary Ross (Wilbur Ross) as soon as this week. At present, the International Semiconductor Industry Association ((SEMI)) has 2400 members worldwide.

In the draft letter, the association said that up to $5 billion of the annual sales of equipment and materials made in the United States came from SMIC, and that blacklisting SMIC would make it difficult for US companies to supply its products, thus undermining the technological advantage of the United States.

SEMI also stressed that the move would also deepen the global industry's impression that the US is "unreliable in delivering products", affecting the market share of US companies.

"We urge the Commerce Department to seriously consider what immediate and long-term adverse effects SMIC's inclusion in the entity list might have on US industry, economy and national security," the association said.

China will have the highest chip production capacity in the world by 2030, accounting for 42 per cent of the world's total, the US semiconductor industry association (SIA), which represents 95 per cent of the US semiconductor industry, said on Wednesday.

SIA points out that the cost of setting up and operating advanced chip factories in the US within 10 years is about 30 per cent higher than that of Taiwan, South Korea or Singapore and 37-50 per cent higher than that of mainland China.

According to foreign media reports earlier this month, the US government is considering adding SMIC to the "entity list" of the US Department of Commerce, which will force US suppliers to obtain permission before shipping the parts needed by the company.

On the evening of September 5, SMIC issued a solemn statement saying that any report on SMIC's involvement in the military was untrue news, which was shocked and puzzled. SMIC is willing to communicate with relevant government departments in the United States in a sincere, open and transparent manner, so as to resolve possible differences and misunderstandings.

In response to the Commerce Department's further tightening of procurement of US-related technology products from Huawei and its affiliates in August, SIA issued a statement saying that such large-scale restrictions on commercial chip sales would wreak havoc on the US semiconductor industry.

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