Driving American mid-to-low-end chips out of the Chinese market can achieve two goals at once. Recently, a notice released by the China Semiconductor Industry Association shows that China has changed its rules for importing chips. One is that the place where semiconductors are taped out (flowing) is recognized as the country of origin; another is that whether "integrated circuits" are packaged or unpackaged, the country of origin when imported should be declared based on the location of the "wafer foundry". Any discerning person can see that this is targeting American chip companies.
Firstly, this is mainly to prevent American chip companies from transporting chips manufactured (taped out) in the U.S. to third countries for packaging and testing to avoid the tariffs China imposes on American imports. This is not just because packaging is merely the process of sealing and packaging the chips, which is essentially still made in the U.S. If American chip companies want to evade China's tariffs by outsourcing the packaging process to other countries, that path is now blocked - no way!
Secondly, China does not want to import American chips for good reason. Because China's chip industry has come a long way, many American chips can actually be replaced by China's domestically produced chips. The main products China imports from America are processors and controllers (such as CPUs/GPUs/MCUs). For example, the analog chip market is mainly dominated by American companies like Texas Instruments and Analog Devices (ADI). Texas Instruments' chips are primarily produced in their U.S. factories and directly exported to China. However, Texas Instruments' analog chips do not have high technical content, and there are numerous similar domestic products available. Once China imposes heavy taxes on Texas Instruments' automotive electronics chips exported to China, domestic chips can replace Texas Instruments' chips, leading to significant development.
Additionally, excluding American mid-to-low-end chips from the Chinese market can avoid being held back by the U.S., promote the development of domestic chip industries, and increase production at SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) and Huahong Electronics. From all angles, it benefits China. As one expert said, "Without America, China has survived for five thousand years," and in the field of chips, "without America, China has also survived for fifty years."
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1829381192406020/
Disclaimer: This article solely represents the views of the author.