The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) recently announced that Micron's products sold in China had failed cybersecurity reviews and posed serious security risks, requiring domestic critical information infrastructure operators to stop purchasing Micron products. This decision is a powerful counterattack to China's technological hegemony and espionage activities in order to safeguard its own cyber security and sovereign interests. It is also China's replacement and elimination of unreliable foreign suppliers in order to promote its own technological progress and market demand; In order to cope with changes and challenges in the external environment, China has countered and warned unfriendly foreign governments. This decision will be conducive to promoting the development and improvement of China's chip industry, and will also help safeguard China's cybersecurity and sovereign interests.
Righteous counterattack
Micron is an American memory chip company and one of the three giants in the global memory chip field. Its main products are flash memory, memory, solid-state drives and sensors. These products are widely used in computers, mobile phones, servers, data centers and other fields, involving a large amount of data and information. If these products have backdoors or vulnerabilities, they may be used to steal or destroy data and information of other countries, endangering the cybersecurity and national security of other countries.
In fact, Micron is such an untrustworthy supplier. It has long used its dominant position in the field of memory chips to lobby for donations to the US government and lawmakers to support the US government's scientific and technological suppression of China. It was also the first company to respond to a U.S. government ban by halting supplies to Chinese companies such as Huawei. It also implants backdoors and vulnerabilities in its products to steal Chinese data and information.
According to the Russian Satellite News Agency on the 22nd, the spokesman of the US Department of Commerce told the media that the US government did not accept this result, and confused right and wrong, ignored the iron evidence, claimed that there was no so-called "realistic basis", and also said ruthlessly, threatening that the United States would unite with its allies to retaliate against China.
"According to the Russian Satellite News Agency on the 22nd, the spokesman of the US Department of Commerce told the media that the US government did not accept this result, and confused right and wrong, ignored the ironclad evidence, claimed that there was no so-called 'realistic basis', and also made ruthless remarks, threatening that the United States would unite with its allies to retaliate against China."
This vexatious attitude can only expose the weakness and panic of the US side. In fact, when the Cyberspace Administration of China conducted a cybersecurity review of Micron's products, it was conducted in full accordance with the Cybersecurity Law and other laws and regulations. The review process lasted two months and involved multiple departments and experts. The review results show that Micron's products have serious cybersecurity problems, causing major security risks to the mainland's critical information infrastructure supply chain and affecting the mainland's national security.
"The review found that Micron's products have serious cybersecurity problems, causing major security risks to the mainland's critical information infrastructure supply chain and affecting the mainland's national security."
This is an objective conclusion based on facts and evidence, and it is also a necessary measure to safeguard national security. Any responsible and conscientious government will make the same decision when faced with a similar situation. As a sovereign state, China has full legal rights and obligations to protect its own cyber security and sovereign interests.
Independent progress - the strength of banning the sale of Micron products
China's ban on Micron products does not mean that China has no other options in the field of memory chips. In fact, in the past few years, China has made significant progress and breakthroughs in the memory chip industry. In particular, Changjiang Storage Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Changjiang Storage), as the first enterprise in mainland China to independently develop 3D NAND flash memory chips and achieve mass production, has surpassed one of the three giants of the United States and South Korea in technology.
Founded in 2016, Changjiang Storage has established the world's most advanced 12-inch wafer fab in Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone, and has received support from the Wuhan Municipal Government, the central financial department, and the Integrated Circuit Industry Fund. After several years of unremitting efforts, it achieved mass production of 64-layer 3D NAND flash memory chips around 2020, skipped 192 layers and directly challenged 232-layer stacked NAND at the end of November 2022 and achieved success, and took the lead in commercial mass production.
"At the end of November 2022, YMTC skipped the technology of stacking 192 layers of NAND, directly challenged the 232-layer stacking NAND and achieved success, and took the lead in achieving commercial mass production."
This technological breakthrough was rated as an "explosive" and "disruptive" innovation by the Financial Times, and it is expected that YMTC will seize 20% of the global market by 2023 and become the world's leading leader by 2030. Moreover, YMTC is also actively developing higher-level stacking technology and new storage technologies such as Xtacking and ReRAM.
In addition to Changjiang Storage, the mainland also has many enterprises such as Unigroup Zhanrui, Hua Hong Semiconductor, and Changxin Storage under Unigroup, which have achieved good results in the field of memory chips. As one of the largest large-scale integrated circuit design enterprises in mainland China, UNISOC has strong competitiveness in the fields of mobile communication chips and Internet of Things chips, and cooperates with Changjiang Storage to develop solid-state drive controller chips based on 3D NAND flash memory chips. As one of the largest large-scale integrated circuit manufacturing enterprises in mainland China, Hua Hong Semiconductor has strong advantages in 12-inch wafer manufacturing, and cooperates with Changjiang Storage to provide wafer foundry services. Changxin Storage, a subsidiary of Unigroup, is one of the largest large-scale integrated circuit packaging and testing enterprises in mainland China, which has strong advantages in packaging and testing, and cooperates with Changjiang Storage to provide packaging and testing services.