In response to the U.S. ban on Chinese chips, Chinese companies have spent $40 billion, a phenomenon that has been keenly captured by Bloomberg, which also believes that Chinese companies will get rid of their dependence on the United States. What is the ins and outs of the matter?
2023 is a year of suffering for Chinese chip companies, the Biden administration has added new content to the original ban on Chinese chips, expanding to the category of AI chips and lithography machines with lower processes, the three major American chip giants have been forced to find the US government several times to protest, the US semiconductor industry association has also spoken out on this matter many times, and the Dutch lithography machine giant ASML has repeatedly dissuaded the US government from retracting its order. Nvidia even tailor-made a "castrated version" chip for the Chinese market.
Chinese buyers know in their hearts that relying on US companies to bypass sanctions is not a long-term solution, and it is even more impossible to expect the US government to find out in conscience, and the only way out is to be self-sufficient, so Chinese companies have riveted their efforts and spent $40 billion to get rid of their dependence on the United States and the West.
On the 22nd local time, after sorting out official data, Bloomberg found that in 2023, Chinese companies will increase their investment in chip manufacturing equipment, spending a total of $40 billion to purchase overseas chip manufacturing equipment. Part of this is due to the increased pressure on Chinese companies in the United States, and ASML received a notice from the United States in 2019 asking them to stop supplying EUV lithography machines to China as soon as possible. After the Biden administration took office, the ban was strengthened, and ASML was only allowed to sell low-end DUV lithography machines to China, which went into effect on January 1, 2024. Ahead of this date, Chinese companies stockpiled a lot of goods.
Another part of the reason lies in the long-term suppression of Chinese semiconductors by the United States, in the past few years, the United States will sanction China's semiconductors as a "panacea" for China's demand, the United States thinks that it is stuck in China's neck, so that China can not fight back and scold not to return the mouth, the Chinese government and downstream enterprises have long abandoned the illusion, and the upstream enterprises are determined to be independent, the $40 billion investment is not only chip manufacturing equipment, but also the future of China's semiconductors.
Bloomberg analysis believes that this is the importance of China's chip industry to achieve self-sufficiency, that is, Chinese companies have made up their minds to get rid of their dependence on the United States and the West, which is not bad at all. In addition to urging ASML to end its supply to the Chinese market ahead of schedule, the United States has even hit the idea of lower-end chip markets. At the beginning of the month, the "Select Committee on China" of the US House of Representatives wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden's senior business and trade officials, saying that the mature process chips made in China may dominate the US market in the future.
The U.S. Department of Commerce is also fond of making fun, and has said that it will start a review of how American companies purchase Chinese-made semiconductors from January this year, and the object of the review is still traditional chips. In the field of semiconductors, what the United States has to do is not only to set a ceiling on China, but also to squeeze China out of this market in all aspects, so the investment of 40 billion US dollars by Chinese enterprises is not only necessary, but also not enough, and Chinese companies will only invest more in the future, and now Bloomberg's shock is still too early.
See the big from the small, not only in the field of chips, where the United States suppresses, we have to fight back, where the United States blockades, we have to break through, China's ultimate goal is to break through itself, beyond itself, the more the United States is afraid, the more it shows that we are on the right path.