In the first step of breaking the ice between China and the United States, Micron Technology Company and Fujian Jinhua, a Chinese enterprise, forgave each other on a global scale. So why did Micron suddenly change its attitude? Does this mean that the United States will also abandon its erroneous China policy?
On December 24, a spokesman for Micron Technology, a U.S. semiconductor company, issued a statement saying that a global settlement agreement had been reached with Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd. This means that the two companies will each drop their lawsuits against each other globally, ending all previous lawsuits between the two companies. Micron and Chinese companies reached a global settlement agreement, which is undoubtedly a historic reconciliation, which is equivalent to the two sides forgiving each other, which is very difficult for both companies, especially for Fujian Jinhua, it is difficult to take this step. Why?
You must know that Micron Technology Company and Fujian Jinhua Company have been "standing up for a long time", of course, the spearhead is caused by Micron Technology Company. Fujian Jinhua was established in 2016 through a partnership with United Microelectronics Technology (UMC) in Taiwan, China, to establish dynamic random access memory (DRAM) memory-related technology. But just a year later, Micron Technology sued Jinhua for alleged "intellectual property theft", claiming that UMC stole its intellectual property and handed it over to Jinhua, including key DRAM technologies. The implication is to accuse Jinhua of stealing Micron's technology. In 2018, Jinhua filed a lawsuit against Micron for the infringement of a series of products sold in China, demanding that Micron immediately stop infringing Jinhua's patents and claim nearly 200 million yuan.
But the matter is not over here, Micron Technology is an American chip giant, and the US government will certainly not sit idly by. In the same year, the U.S. Department of Commerce put Fujian Jinhua on the "blacklist" of export control on the grounds of so-called "national security". In terms of reversing black and white, such reasons as "stealing important US technology" and "threatening national security" have become common excuses for the US to suppress and sanction Chinese companies. This is true both a few years ago and now, and it also shows that the U.S. government, no matter who is in charge, essentially wants to deal with China and contain China's development. Since 2019, the U.S. government has unilaterally set off a "chip war" against China, and has begun to increase its efforts to target Chinese companies, sanctioning Chinese companies if they disagree, Huawei is one of them. When the United States launched the "chip war", Micron Technology also played a role in "fueling the fire".
The reason why Micron dares to make trouble behind this is nothing more than that it thinks that it has a huge share of the Chinese market and can do whatever it wants. But obviously, both the U.S. government and Micron Technology underestimate China's strength and determination, and since Micron is holding China's bowl and smashing China's factories, then China naturally has to safeguard its own interests. In May this year, Micron was found by the Chinese side that some of its products did not pass the network security review, and there were huge hidden dangers, and the Chinese side imposed sanctions on Micron in accordance with the law. According to Micron's announcement, affected by the Chinese ban, Micron is likely to face the risk of halving its revenue in the Chinese market. I have to say that as soon as China made a move, it hit the nail on the head, and this ban can be regarded as a blow to Micron and the U.S. government. So how did Micron reconcile with China when it was so unpleasant?
In the final analysis, it is because Micron cannot get out of the Chinese market. The turning point came in October of this year, during the visit of US Democratic leader Chuck Schumer to China, when Schumer raised the hope that Micron would be able to reopen its business in the Chinese market. After that, in early November, China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao also met with the CEO of Micron Technology. Combined with various indications, it is clear that the Chinese side still agreed to the request of the US side, and Micron was able to re-establish business in the Chinese market. And now that Micron and Jinhua have reached a settlement, which can be regarded as the first step for China and the United States to break the ice in the "chip war", does this mean that the United States has given up suppressing and sanctioning Chinese companies and giving up its wrong China policy? The United States has always regarded containment of China's rise as its main China policy, and if the United States wants to completely change its China policy, I am afraid that the US Government will have to do a good job of self-examination.
However, regardless of whether the U.S. government will suppress Chinese companies in the future, it is certain that in this "chip war", China's strength should not be underestimated, and it has gained the upper hand, and the United States' attempt to contain China will fail.