US 'won't tolerate' China's ban on Micron chips, commerce secretary says

The company logo is seen on the Micron Technology Inc. offices in Shanghai, China May 25, 2023. REUTERS

The United States "won't tolerate" China's effective ban on purchases of Micron Technology memory chips and is working closely with allies to address such "economic coercion," US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Saturday.

Raimondo told a news conference after a meeting of trade ministers in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks that the US "firmly opposes" China's actions against Micron.

These "target a single US company without any basis in fact, and we see it as plain and simple economic coercion and we won't tolerate it, nor do we think it will be successful."

China's cyberspace regulator said on May 21 that Micron, the biggest US memory chip maker, had failed its network security review and that it would block operators of key infrastructure from buying from the company, prompting it to predict a revenue reduction.

The move came a day after leaders of the G7 industrial democracies agreed to new initiatives to push back against economic coercion by China -- a decision noted by Raimondo.

"As we said at the G7 and as we have said consistently, we are closely engaging with partners addressing this specific challenge and all challenges related to China's non-market practices."

Raimondo also raised the Micron issue in a meeting on Thursday with China's Commerce Minister, Wang Wentao.

She also said the IPEF agreement on supply chains and other pillars of the talks would be consistent with US investments in the $52 billion CHIPS Act to foster semiconductor production in the United States.

"The investments in the CHIPS Act are to strengthen and bolster our domestic production of semiconductors. Having said that, we welcome participation from companies that are in IPEF countries, you know, so we expect that companies from Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc, will participate in the CHIPS Act funding," Raimondo said.