美國和歐洲對中國湧入傳統芯片領域日益感到震驚 (1/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

US, Europe Growing Alarmed by China’s Rush into Legacy Chips (1/2)

Jenny Leonard, Ian King and Alberto Nardelli

Tue, August 1, 2023 at 2:36 a.m. PDT

(Bloomberg) -- US and European officials are growing increasingly concerned about China’s accelerated push into the production of older-generation semiconductors and are debating new strategies to contain the country’s expansion.

President Joe Biden implemented broad controls over China’s ability to secure the kind of advanced chips that power artificial-intelligence models and military applications. But Beijing responded by pouring billions into factories for the so-called legacy chips that haven’t been banned. Such chips are still essential throughout the global economy, critical components for everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware.

That’s sparked fresh fears about China’s potential influence and triggered talks of further reining in the Asian nation, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The US is determined to prevent chips from becoming a point of leverage for China, the people said.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo alluded to the problem during a panel discussion last week at the American Enterprise Institute. “The amount of money that China is pouring into subsidizing what will be an excess capacity of mature chips and legacy chips — that’s a problem that we need to be thinking about and working with our allies to get ahead of,” she said.

While there’s no timeline for action to be taken and information is still being gathered, all options are on the table, according to a senior Biden administration official. A US National Security Council spokeswoman declined to comment, while a European Commission spokesperson said the agency will take necessary measures to preserve its interests and was working to reduce the region’s dependence on foreign firms for both mature and advanced chips.

The most advanced semiconductors are those produced using the thinnest etching technology, with 3-nanometers state of the art today. Legacy chips are typically considered those made with 28-nm equipment or above, technology introduced more than a decade ago.

Senior EU and US officials are concerned about Beijing’s drive to dominate this market for both economic and security reasons, the people said. They worry Chinese companies could dump their legacy chips on global markets in the future, driving foreign rivals out of business like in the solar industry, they said.

Western companies may then become dependent on China for these semiconductors, the people said. Buying such critical tech components from China may create national security risks, especially if the silicon is needed in defense equipment.

(to be continued)

Translation

（彭博社）- 美國和歐洲官員越來越擔心中國加速推進老一代半導體的生產，並正在討論遏制該國擴張的新戰略。

拜登總統對中國獲取為人工智能模型和軍事應用提供動力的先進芯片的能力實施了廣泛的控制。 但北京方面的回應是向工廠投入數十億美元，生產尚未被禁止的所謂傳統芯片。 此類芯片在整個全球經濟中仍然至關重要，是從智能手機、電動汽車到軍事硬件等各種產品的關鍵組件。

據知情但因私穩要求匿名人士透露，這引發了人們對中國潛在影響力的新擔憂，並引發了進一步控制這個亞洲國家的討論。 知情人士稱，美國決心阻止芯片成為中國的籌碼。

商務部長Gina Raimondo上週在美國企業研究所的一次小組討論中提到了這個問題。 她表示： “中國投入大量資金, 去補貼成熟芯片和傳統芯片的過剩產能，這是我們需要思考並與盟友合作解決的一個問題。”

拜登政府一位高級官員表示，雖然沒有採取行動的時間表，並且仍在收集信息，但所有選擇都已擺在桌面上。 美國國家安全委員會發言人拒絕置評，而歐盟委員會發言人則表示，該機構將採取必要措施維護其利益，並正在努力減少其地區對外國公司在成熟和先進芯片方面的依賴。

最先進的半導體是採用當今最先進的 3 納米蝕刻技術生產的半導體。 傳統芯片通常被認為是採用 28 納米或以上設備製造的芯片，該技術是十多年前推出的。

這些人士表示，高級歐盟和美國官員對北京出於經濟和安全原因主導這一市場的行為感到擔憂。 他們表示擔心中國公司未來可能會將其傳統芯片傾銷到全球市場，從而將外國競爭對手趕出市場，就像太陽能行業一樣。

這些人士表示，西方公司可能會在這些半導體方面變得依賴中國。 從中國購買此類關鍵技術部件可能會帶來國家安全風險，特別是如果在國防設備上需要矽。

（待續）