Last Update: May 22, 2023, 01:58 AM IST
A sign is placed at the entrance to the Micron Technology automotive chip manufacturing plant on February 11, 2022 in Manassas, Va. (AP Photo, File)
Micron products pose unspecified “serious network security risks” that threaten China’s information infrastructure and affect national security
China’s government on Sunday asked users of computer equipment considered sensitive to stop buying products from America’s biggest memory chipmaker, Micron Technology Inc., escalating a dispute with Washington over technology and security.
The Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website that Micron products pose an unspecified “serious network security risk” that poses a threat to China’s information infrastructure and affects national security. Its six-sentence statement gave no details.
“Operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing products from Micron,” the agency said.
The United States, Europe and Japan are curtailing Chinese access to advanced chipmaking and other technology they say could be used in weapons at a time when President Xi Jinping’s government has threatened to attack Taiwan And increasingly assertive towards Japan and other neighbors.
Chinese officials have warned of unspecified consequences but appear to be struggling to find ways to retaliate without harming China’s smartphone makers and other industries and spurring efforts to develop its own processor chip suppliers.
An official review of Micron under China’s increasingly stringent information security laws was announced on April 4, hours after Japan joined Washington in banning Chinese access to technology to make processor chips on security grounds.
Police raids on two advisory firms, Bain & Company and Capvision, and a due diligence firm, the Mintz Group, have stirred foreign companies. Chinese officials declined to explain the raids, but said foreign companies were bound by the law.
Business groups and the US government have urged authorities to explain newly expanded legal restrictions on information and how they will be enforced.
Sunday’s announcement appeared to try to reassure foreign companies.
The cyberspace agency said, “China strongly promotes a high degree of openness to the outside world and welcomes enterprises from different countries and various platform products and services to enter the Chinese market, as long as it complies with Chinese laws and regulations.” welcomes services.
Xi accused Washington in March of trying to stall China’s development. He called on the public to “dare to fight”.
Despite this, Beijing has been slow to retaliate, presumably to avoid disrupting Chinese industries that assemble most of the world’s smartphones, tablet computers and other consumer electronics. They import over $300 billion worth of foreign chips every year.
Beijing is pouring billions of dollars into it in an attempt to speed up chip development and reduce the need for foreign technology. Chinese foundry may supply low-end chips used in autos and
home appliances
But the smartphone cannot support artificial intelligence and other advanced applications.
The conflict has prompted warnings that the world could split up, or split, into separate regions with incompatible technical standards, meaning computers, smartphones and other products from one region would not work in another. This would drive up costs and could slow down innovation.
US-China relations are at their lowest level in decades due to disputes over security, Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim ethnic minorities, territorial disputes and China’s multi-billion dollar trade surplus.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – associated Press,
