Apart from Huawei, another Chinese company may be added to the trade blacklist set by the Trump administration. This is according to an official from the Defense Department. The government seems to be getting more serious about going after Chinese brands like Huawei and SMIC. The chipmaker may soon experience what the top Chinese mobile OEM has experienced or are still experiencing. We won’t be surprised if other tech companies in the US start cutting ties with SMIC.
This piece of information may mean a lot of things to different industries. The Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation’s (SMIC) being added to a trade blacklist will mean companies that work with it will soon be required to get a license from the government.
It was the Pentagon who proposed to bring SMIC to the entity list. The Commerce Department’s End User Committee is the one that makes the decision. If approved, SMIC will be part of the long entity list that includes some 275 China-based companies.
There is no official announcement yet but SMIC was surprised upon hearing the news. The company said it is open to communicate with the proper agencies to sort out any problem or misunderstanding.
SMIC is now the biggest chip maker in China. However, it is only second to Taiwan’s TSMC when it comes to the world market. It competes with TSMC directly.
TSMC, if you may remember, has already ended its business deal with Huawei, no thanks to the US trade ban. SMIC may face the same threat since it relies on a US technology. If you’re not aware, SMIC is also one of the many manufacturers of Huawei.