American executives at chip companies in China are now in limbo as the Biden administration's Commerce Department is restricting American contributions to China's chip development.
There are 43 American citizen senior executives with 16 Chinese semiconductor companies potentially impacted, The Wall Street Journal reported.
China had pulled most from Silicon Valley over the years, including through China's "Thousand Talents" during the Obama era, which was used to lure brains behind semiconductors to boost China's leadership in the pivotal industry, according to the report.
The Commerce Department move will require Americans working in the chip industry in China to have licensed permission to do so.
Among the companies halting the work of American employees are Beijing-based Naura Technology Group Co. and Dutch equipment maker ASML Holding NV, according to the Journal.
"The technology is nothing without the people there to make it work," Control Risks' Dane Chamorro told the Journal.
The new ban will ultimately force Americans working in China to make a choice on their citizenship or their job, according to Chamorro.
Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. (AMEC) founder Gerald Yin is an American citizen in China impacted by the new restriction, after spending 20 years in Silicon Valley with Intel Corp. and Applied Materials Inc.
Notably, AMEC's latest annual report details having received $50 million in Chinese government subsidies in 2021.
The ban might force Americans to choose their citizenship versus their job, but China is going to keep chugging along as a dominant player in the semiconductor industry, Bain & Co.'s Anne Hoecker told the Journal.
"There's one thing China has been very consistent about — their need to build up an indigenous source of semiconductors," she said. "They will continue to put a lot of money in it, and they will continue to progress."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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