iPhone wants to install "Chinese chip" prompts backlash Experts to call it "cheating on America"

 

.

As the U.S. government has adopted a series of tougher investment

and technology export controls against China, critics say Apple's order-sharing

plan with Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory will disrupt the chip market and

disrupt electronic products like the iPhone. will increase the demand for

appliances.

The passage and signing of the Chip and Science Act, which aims to revive R&D

and the manufacturing of domestic semiconductor chips in the United States, is

expected to encourage more semiconductor companies to build factories in the

United States. On the same day that President Biden signed the bill, Micron

announced plans to invest $40 billion over ten years to build a "leading memory

manufacturing operation" in multiple phases in the United States, producing

40,000 memory chips. To make Employment Opportunities.

But the memory chip business of semiconductor companies like Micron will

face challenges from China's Yangtze River Memory. The analysis indicated that

Apple played a role in enhancing the status of Chinese companies Played a role.

South Korean media Business Korea reported this month that Apple has added

China's Yangtze Memory Storage to its list of NAND flash memory suppliers for

the iPhone 14. As early as March this year, the cooperation between the two can

be seen in the media. Technology news site Light Reading reported at the time

that a Credit Suisse report revealed that Apple is evaluating Yangxi memory chip

products for iPhone production.

U.S. Attorney Charles Flint, the former chief of staff of U.S. Republican Senator

Marsha Blackburn (Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN), called Apple's move

"betrayal" (betrayal).

"That's what we're trying to do right now because we just passed the CHIP bill

and $52.7 billion in funding," Flint told VOA. Flint currently heads a consulting

firm focused on technology, telecommunications, and geopolitics. He said:

"Apple is actually funding their (China's) efforts against the US. I hate to explain

it this way, but it's kind of a fraud." He said: "US competition in this market is the

US government's current key strategic objective. Apple is undercutting our efforts.

lleged cooperation with the People's Liberation Army Yangtze River Storage

may threaten supply chain security. NAND flash memory is a commonly

used low-capacity storage device, and one of its characteristics is that it

can retain data even when the device is turned off. Apple's current supply

of NAND flash memory is mainly from South Korea's Samsung Electronics,

SK Hynix, and Japan comes to Kioxia.

"The function of memory chips is important, so securing the economics in

the supply chain is important," said Roselyn Leighton, co-founder of the

China Tech Threat website and senior vice president of Strand Consult, a

Danish telecommunications industry consultancy. Safety

"There's an economic security issue here, and we want to make sure that

our most sensitive high-tech suppliers, if they're not American, at least for us

like South Korea or the Netherlands or Japan," Layton said. are friendly,

" Layton said.

"That's why we reject Huawei," he told VOA. "We don't want to use

Huawei's networks in the U.S. because of the backdoor channels and

avenues of interference the Chinese government can enable."

According to public information, YMTC was established in July 2016 by

Tsinghua Unigroup, China National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment

Fund, Hubei Provincial Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, and

Hubei Science and Technology Investment based in Wuhan Xinxin. According

to statistics, YMTC's total investment is about 160 billion yuan (US$23.1 billion).

According to Nikkei News, according to industry analysis estimates, YMTC

had about 5% of the global market share last year, the world's sixth

largest NAND flash after Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, Western Digital,

and Micron. Became a memory manufacturing company.

A report published in 2020 by James Mulligan, an American military expert

who studies China's military and intelligence, stated that the YMTC has

close ties to the Chinese military. The report states that some

corporate executives and YMTC board members are also involved in

PLA modernization efforts Services are provided.

YMTC's low-cost competition caught in Apple CCP's trap?

Experts say it's Apple's regular practice to fuel price wars among suppliers,

but this strategy is out of CCP's hands, leading Chinese companies to start

a war with unfair competition. I become a winner.

Layton said that by subsidizing the low-cost strategy, Yangtze Memory

in democratic countries has weakened the market influence of memory

chip suppliers.

In the last 10 years, the memory market has actually stabilized. Now

when YMTC comes in, they can disrupt the market because they can price

at a lower price, because they get subsidies from the Chinese government.

Can reach number one through legal means.

Flint said the situation was in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

"Apple is doing what the Communist Party wants American companies to do. They're bent," he said.

The US government has previously imposed a series of export control measures

on China's chip industry, but they mainly focus on high-end logic chips,

which are used in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence

and quantum computing. . There have been recent indications that the

Biden administration is considering restricting exports of chip-making

equipment to Chinese memory chip makers.

LAM Research and Applied Materials is a major supplier of chip production

tools in the United States, and its exports to China may be affected as a result.

How did the US government react?

Independent cybersecurity researcher Zach Edwards said Apple is not

directly violating any US laws at this time. "But it's also clear that Congress did

a poor job of supporting and regulating the semiconductor industry until a few

weeks ago when the $50 billion Chip Act was passed. was finally approved -

this is an important step in the right direction.

A Senior Researcher Klon Kitchen (Klon Kitchen) has listed in the

article countermeasures that the US government could take against a

potential cooperation agreement between Apple and YMTC. He said in

the article that YMTC could first be added to the US entity list,

through Presidential Executive Order 13873, by banning the importation of

Apple products containing YMTC chips, or for that purpose "non- By imposing

the Domestic Direct Product Rule”, it should be completely banned.

He said YMTC's direct ties to the Chinese government and the Chinese military

would justify the actions in light of Huawei's alleged violations of restrictions on

chip sales and a range of anti-competitive business practices.

 Apple's partnership with the YMTC has come under increased scrutiny,

including from members of the US Congress. Republican Senator Marco Rubio

(Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL) told the media a few days ago: "If it (Apple) continues

to do this, it should be subject to unprecedented scrutiny by the federal

government." 

will Apple has always emphasized the superiority of its products in protecting

user privacy. Critics say Apple CEO Tim Cook will have to testify in person

before Congress about why ties with China have become closer.

"Because Apple told us their security and privacy is excellent, but if they're so

aligned with the Chinese government, if their servers are in China, their policies

are set by China, they make their products in China. , how could we possibly?

Believe the claims that we get privacy and security? It's nonsense.