Global chipmaking gear makers should treat Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. with fairness and buy back equipment that the U.S.-sanctioned Chinese memory chipmaker is barred from using, a senior company executive said.
“Machine suppliers should buy back the equipment and components we have purchased legally if we can’t use them,” Yangtze Memory chairman and acting CEO Chen Nanxiang said in a defiant June 29 speech at an industry event in Shanghai.
The company is China’s foremost developer of memory chips, but broad U.S. export restrictions and its inclusion on a trade blacklist in late 2022 deprived the organization of access to the latest manufacturing hardware. Chen lamented the “broken” state of the global supply chain today as a result of U.S.-led tech sanctions on China.
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The rush to set up advanced fabrication plants in places like the U.S. and Europe is disrupting the supply-demand balance and threatens to lead to an oversupply, Chen said. Voicing support for free global trade — a common refrain among chip firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and ASML Holding NV — the executive said no amount of redundant domestic supply would ever be enough to replace a truly international supply ecosystem.
“The global chip industry depends on globalization to develop,” Chen said.
