China recently banned domestic sales of memory chips from the U.S. company Micron, claiming they pose cybersecurity risks. This was a lie, as anyone who follows the industry can attest.
But as Rob Atkinson writes in InsideSources, the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s motivations for such acts of economic belligerence are seldom clear. Still, in this case, it could be payback for export controls the Trump administration imposed on memory maker Fujian Jinhua, a beneficiary of lavish government subsidies, in retaliation for previously stealing Micron technology. It also could be punishment for export controls the Biden administration imposed last year on semiconductor equipment.
Read the op-ed.
