The Wall Street Journal

China to probe foreign chip makers including Micron, Samsung

Bloomberg News
China has been trying to reduce dependency on foreign chips. Nearly 90% of the $190 billion worth of chips used in the country are imported or produced in China by foreign-owned companies, according to International Business Strategies Inc., a research firm.

BEIJING—Chinese regulators are investigating memory-chip makers Micron Technology Inc.  , Samsung Electronics Co.   and SK Hynix Inc.  , all three of which said State Administration for Market Regulation officials have visited their China offices recently.

The regulator didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The three companies—the dominant suppliers of so-called DRAM chips—said they are cooperating with the investigation, but didn’t say what it is about. Bernstein analyst Mark Newman said it may concern the rising cost of DRAM chips that Chinese smartphone makers are facing as demand continues to outpace supply.

China might also be seeking to use the current DRAM pricing environment to gain leverage, he said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if China is trying to negotiate some tech transfer and trying to put pressure on the incumbent memory makers to share some technology with the domestic Chinese memory makers,” he said.

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