US ‘will not tolerate’ China ban on Micron chips, says Commerce Secretary

DETROIT, May 27 (Reuters) – The United States “will not tolerate” China’s effective ban on purchases of Micron Technology ( MU.O ) memory chips and is working closely with allies to deal with such “economic coercion,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Saturday.

Raimondo said at a news conference after a meeting of trade ministers in the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework talks that the US “strongly opposes” China’s actions against Micron.

These “target a single American company with no basis in reality, and we see that as pure and simple economic coercion, and we will not tolerate it, nor do we believe it will succeed.”

China’s cyberspace regulator said on May 21 that Micron, the largest US memory chip maker, had failed its review of network security and that it would block operators of key infrastructure from buying from the company, prompting it to predict a drop in revenue.

The move came a day after the leaders of the G7 industrial democracies agreed to new initiatives to push back against economic coercion from China – a decision noted by Raimondo.

“As we said at the G7 and as we have said consistently, we are working closely with partners who are addressing this specific challenge and all challenges related to China’s non-market practices.”

Raimondo also raised the Micron issue in a meeting Thursday with China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao.

She also said the IPEF agreement on supply chains and other pillars of the talks would be consistent with US investments in the $52 billion CHIPS Act to promote semiconductor manufacturing in the US.

“The investments in the CHIPS Act will strengthen and strengthen our domestic semiconductor manufacturing. That said, we want the participation of companies that are in IPEF countries, you know, so we expect companies from Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc. will participate in the CHIPS Act funding,” Raimondo said.

Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.