Two years after the United States imposed harsh sanctions on Huawei, the
Chinese technology firm’s earnings have dropped, it has lost its leadership
position in network tools and smartphones, and its founder has informed
employees that the company’s survival is in jeopardy.
Under new export controls announced on Friday, semiconductors made with US
expertise for use in AI, high-performance computing, and supercomputers can
only be sold to China with an export licence — which is extremely difficult to
obtain.
Furthermore, except with special permission, Washington prohibits US
residents or entities from working with Chinese chip producers. The package
also strictly restricts the export to China of chip manufacturing tools and
expertise that China could use to develop its own tools.
“To put it mildly, [Chinese companies] are essentially returning to the
Stone Age,” said Szeho Ng, Managing Director of China Renaissance.
“There will be many losers as the tsunami of change unleashed by the
new rules washes over the semiconductor and associated industries,” said
Paul Triolo, a China and expertise expert at the Albright Stonebridge
consultancy.
He added that the impact could be especially severe on Chinese firms that
use US-origin hardware to deploy AI algorithms, such as for autonomous vehicles
and logistics.
Chinese chipmakers are far more concerned about Washington’s attempt to
prevent US residents from supporting them.
“That is a bigger surprise than not being able to buy equipment,”
said a human resources manager at a state-owned semiconductor plant.
“We do have [US passport holders] in some of the most important
positions in our company,” she said, calling them a “core
weapon” for expanding expertise. “We need to figure out how to keep
these people working for us.” This is extremely difficult. The majority of
people are unwilling to
