April 27 news, according to the British "Financial Times" quoted three people familiar with the news reported that the US Biden government is investigating the Chinese memory chip manufacturer Jiangjiang Storage has provided chips to Huawei, if this allegation is true, then Yangtze River Storage may violate the US export ban against Huawei, or will trigger US sanctions.

According to the report, the US White House and the US Department of Commerce received a "credible" report from TechInsights, a professional disassembly analysis agency, showing that Yangtze River Storage provided NAND Flash chips for Huawei's Enjoy 20e mobile phone, which was manufactured in August 2021, a year after former US President Trump imposed an export ban on Huawei, and the US government has previously banned any US enterprise or foreign business from exporting any US technology to Huawei.

Yangtze River Storage is currently the largest manufacturer of domestic NAND Flash memory chips in China. Like other leading Chinese chipmakers, the company is responding to government pressure to step up efforts to wean itself off its dependence on the United States on equipment and certain processes.

"Although Customs has not commented on a possible investigation, it is still actively investigating allegations of violations of the Export Administration Regulations," the source said. Any enforcement action resulting from an investigation will only be announced after the investigation is completed. ”

Michael McCaul, chief member of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee, argued that Yangtze River Storage appeared to violate the U.S. Foreign Direct Products Rule (FDPR).

So far, neither Huawei nor Yangtze River Storage has responded to the allegations.

The Financial Times said the allegations are the latest allegations against Chinese technology companies that the U.S. government believes threaten U.S. security either because of their impact on U.S. companies or because of concerns that their technology will be used by the Chinese military.

The White House said last year that Yangtze Storage would become China's "largest producer of memory chips." Some Republicans, including Michael McCall, want to add Yangtze River Storage to the Commerce Department's Entity List, and companies on the list are sanctioned by the U.S. government for strict export controls.

It is worth mentioning that at the end of March this year, the industry reported that Yangtze River Storage successfully entered apple's iPhone supply chain and supplied NAND Flash chips for Apple's iPhone SE 3.

Since then, Marco Rubio, a Republican lawmaker in the United States, has also expressed concern about Apple's consideration of letting Yangtze River storage enter its supply chain, which he believes has extensive ties to Chinese officials. In a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Marco Rubio wrote: "It is unacceptable that the sale of the next generation of iPhones will eventually strengthen China's military power." ”

However, Apple did not comment on this.

While some Companies in China provide equipment for special processes in semiconductor production, such as etching and copper plating, a handful of U.S. companies, such as Applied Materials, Lam Lam and Kelei, remain monopolistic in key market segments, including the Chinese market.

Roslyn Layton, co-founder of a group called China's Tech Threat, said one reason the U.S. had previously not put Yangtze River Storage on the "entity list" was the successful lobbying of U.S. groups.

"The partners at Yangtze River Storage have been excellent at working from the U.S. government's perspective," Layton said. ”。“ These companies don't want to put it on the entity list because they want to sell it there. ”

To determine whether Yangtze River Storage violates FDPR, the Commerce Department must prove that Yangtze Storage "knew" that its chips would be shipped to Huawei. This can be complicated for commodity chips that can be sold off-the-shelf.

Editor: Xin ZhiXun - Langke Sword