The Bloomberg news agency reported on Wednesday (July 31) that the United States may further restrict China’s access to artificial intelligence memory chips and the equipment needed to produce such semiconductors as early as August.
According to sources familiar with the matter cited in the report, these measures are aimed at preventing U.S. companies like Micron, South Korea’s SK Hynix, and Samsung from supplying China with High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) chips that can assist in running complex generative artificial intelligence programs.
If implemented, the new rules will cover HBM2 and more advanced chips, including HBM3 and HBM3E, as well as the tools needed to manufacture them. The sources emphasized that the U.S. government has not yet made a final decision. The three mentioned companies dominate the global HBM market.
The sources mentioned that Micron is unlikely to be significantly affected as the company has not been selling its HBM products to China after Beijing banned Micron memory chips from critical infrastructure in 2023.
It remains unclear how the U.S. will demand cooperation from South Korean companies, according to the sources. SK Hynix and Samsung rely on U.S. chip design software and equipment from companies such as Cadence Design Systems, Inc., and Applied Materials Inc.
Micron declined to comment, while Samsung and SK Hynix did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment.
Sources said the new restrictions are likely to be announced at the end of August as part of a broader plan, which also includes sanctions on over 120 Chinese companies and new restrictions on various chip equipment, with exemptions for major allies including Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea.
Some sources revealed that the new restrictions on HBM equipment and Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) aim to prevent China’s memory chip manufacturer, ChangXin Memory Technologies, from advancing its technology. ChangXin Memory is currently able to produce HBM2, a product that was first commercially released in 2016.
The Biden administration also plans to create a list of key components required for China to continue producing semiconductors. They are also focusing on a zero-minimum rule, under which any product containing U.S. technology may be subject to restrictions. However, a large number of U.S. allies, including Japan and the Netherlands, will not be subject to such measures.