Department of less commerce

15 May 2020 By Robert Cyran Follow @rob_cyran

Further U.S. restrictions on Huawei, along with TSMC’s decision to build a $12 billion American chip plant, heighten tensions between D.C. and Beijing. Multinationals like Qualcomm and Apple became giants by building scale to serve a global market. They are now vulnerable, too.

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The U.S. Commerce Department said on May 15 it was tightening rules to “strategically target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors that are the direct product of certain U.S. software and technology.” Foreign companies that use U.S. chipmaking equipment will be required to obtain a U.S. license before supplying certain chips to Huawei Technologies or its affiliates.

China’s Global Times reported that the Chinese government is ready to put U.S. companies on an “unreliable entity list.” It said investigations and restrictions could be imposed on Apple, Cisco Systems, and Qualcomm.

Separately, chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing said on May 14 that it would build an approximately $12 billion advanced factory in Arizona, with "the mutual understanding and commitment to support from the U.S. federal government and the State of Arizona."

Last week, Intel said it was in discussions with the U.S. government about increasing domestic production of cutting-edge microelectronics.

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Last week, Intel said it was in discussions with the U.S. government about increasing domestic production of cutting-edge microelectronics.

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