China imposes sales restrictions on Micron as tech battle with Washington escalates | CNN Business

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China has banned Chinese companies working on key infrastructure projects from buying products from US semiconductor maker Micron, in a major escalation of an ongoing battle between the world’s two biggest economies over access to technology crucial

The Cyberspace Administration of China announced the decision on Sunday, saying the US chipmaker had failed a cybersecurity review.

“The review found that Micron’s products have relatively serious cybersecurity risks, which pose significant risks to China’s critical information infrastructure supply chain and would affect national security,” the regulator said in a communicated

As a result, carriers involved in national critical information infrastructure projects should stop buying Micron products, he said.

The decision came seven weeks after the Chinese regulator launched a cybersecurity review of Micron’s products, in apparent retaliation against sanctions imposed by Washington and its allies on China’s chip industry.

Micron Technology (MU) is one of the largest memory chip manufacturers in the United States. It gets more than 10% of its revenue from mainland China.

Micron told Reuters it had received the regulator’s notice and “looked forward to continuing discussions with the Chinese authorities.” He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.

Since October 2022, Washington has imposed sweeping restrictions on the export of advanced chips and chip-making equipment to China, in an attempt to cut off China’s access to critical technology for military purposes.

In March, Japan and the Netherlands, both key US allies, also announced restrictions on overseas sales of chipmaking technology to countries such as China. China has strongly criticized the restrictions, calling them “discriminatory containment” aimed at the country.

Chips are at the heart of Beijing’s bid to become a technological superpower. China has its own chipmakers, but they mainly supply low- and mid-range processors used in home appliances and electric vehicles.

The semiconductor battle is part of a growing divide between the United States and China. In recent years, relations between the two have reached their lowest level in decades.

Tensions rose this year after a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down by US fighter jets in February and Beijing continued to deepen ties with Russia despite its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

However, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he hoped ties between the two countries would improve soon.

“I think you’re going to see them start to thaw very soon,” Biden said he said at a news conference at the end of the Group of Seven summit in Japan.

He said he had agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November to keep communications open, but that all changed after a “stupid balloon carrying two freight cars’ worth of spy equipment” was shot down.

“We are not looking to disengage from China,” he said. “We are looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China.”