As it scrambles to comply with new US export limits that are upending the country’s semiconductor industry, Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. has ordered American staff in crucial technical roles to quit.
Uncertainty surrounded the number of US nationals and green card holders who would be compelled to leave YMTC, according to four firm insiders, but dozens in China had already left the memory chip manufacturer.
Some of the Americans, according to a top YMTC engineer, were crucial to the company’s innovations in the manufacture of Nand memory chips. “But there’s no other way around [them leaving],” the person added.
The departures happen as semiconductor manufacturers in China, the US, and Europe scramble to make sure they are in compliance with the harsh export limits revealed by Washington this month.
Leading US chip equipment providers KLA Corporation, Applied Materials, and Lam Research have stopped selling to and providing services to Chinese semiconductor makers.
The Netherlands-based ASML has instructed all of its employees in the US to avoid serving any Chinese clients while it evaluates the measures.
The new regulations disrupt a crucial talent pipeline for China’s chip industry, which depends in part on American engineers and scientists’ expertise to advance its technology, by requiring any US citizen or entity to request permission from the Department of Commerce before providing support to fabrication plants, or fabs.
This includes a large number of ethnic Chinese people who received their education and training in the US before relocating back to China.
Simon Yang, the longtime chief executive of YMTC and holder of a US passport, resigned from his position immediately before the sanctions were announced, reportedly as a result of growing pressure from Washington on the business, according to two people.
Yang used Rmb220 billion ($30 billion) in the capital, mostly from the government, to develop YMTC into China’s top memory chip manufacturer.
Prior to political pressure and the new US sanctions casting a shadow over its chances, the business was close to securing a place for its semiconductors in Apple’s iPhone this summer.
To read our blog on “US imposes new prohibitions on the sale of chipmaking gear to China,” click here.
