2023-11-17 04:34:00
A day following a report revealed that the Chinese continue to buy advanced chip machines, an investigation by United States authorities found that Applied Materials is involved in a scheme to ship equipment to China’s SMIC.
According to information collected by Archyde.com, the Department of Justice may accuse Applied Materials – the largest chip machine manufacturer in the US – of engage in fraud to circumvent the country’s sanctions.
To do this, Applied Materials sent this equipment to South Korea without an export license, since the country is not sanctioned. Upon arriving in Seoul, these machines were redirected to China and arrived at SMIC factories.
The scheme has been operating for some time and authorities say it involves hundreds of millions of dollars. This equipment may have been used in the production of the 7 nm Kirin 9000s.
For now, it is not yet clear whether the investigation will result in a formal accusation, but sources say that the scheme has been operating since 2020. That is, since SMIC entered the “entity list”.
Sought to comment on the matter, Applied Materials said that it follows all the country’s rules and that it is collaborating with the authorities to provide the necessary information.
The company is cooperating with the government and remains committed to compliance and global laws, including export controls and trade regulations
SMIC did not comment on the matter. Still, it is necessary to remember that the American government pressured other machine manufacturers, such as the Dutch ASML, to stop selling advanced equipment to China.
Therefore, if the accusation once morest Applied Materials is confirmed, this will be a serious blow once morest competitors who followed US rules while a company from the country itself was still selling equipment to the Chinese.
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