US Government to probe Chinese chip trade practices
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced that it is taking action to protect American workers and businesses from what is says are China's unfair trade practices in the semiconductor sector.
This will include launching a Section 301 investigation to examine the China's targeting of legacy, mature semiconductors. In addition, the investigation will assess the impact of China's acts, policies, and practices on the production of SiC substrates or other wafers used as inputs into semiconductor fabrication.
Chinese semiconductors often enter the US market as a component of finished goods. The Section 301 investigation will examine a broad range of 'non-market' acts, policies, and practices with respect to the semiconductor sector, including to the extent these semiconductors are incorporated as components into downstream products for critical industries like defence, automotive, medical devices, aerospace, telecommunications, and power generation and the electrical grid.
With supply chains a key area of concern, on December 19 2024, the US Government publicised the first-ever US Government Quadrennial Supply Chain Review, which provides an in-depth assessment of the United States’ critical supply chains, actions taken over the last four years to make each supply chain more resilient, and necessary steps to increase US resilience in the future.
The Review also includes a comprehensive strategy to respond to non-market policies and practices because they pose a significant challenge in critical industries covered in the supply chain report. The strategy details the types of comprehensive action necessary to combat non-market policies and practices, including procurement policies.
