Applied Materials, Lam Research tell vendors to follow new restrictions, spurred by U.S. government pressure
The U.S. semiconductor industry is uprooting Chinese companies from supply chains, spurred by directives from Washington seeking to suppress China’s involvement in sensitive next-generation technology.
Chip toolmakers are telling suppliers that they need to find alternatives to certain components obtained from China or risk losing their vendor status. Companies relaying this message include Applied Materials and Lam Research, according to people familiar with the matter. The two Silicon Valley companies make equipment used in the production of microprocessors and are among the world’s biggest manufacturers of these tools.
Suppliers have also been told that they can’t have Chinese investors or shareholders, the people said.
Industry executives said such moves were likely to raise costs because it won’t be easy to find non-Chinese alternatives at similar prices.
Lam Research said it adheres to U.S. export controls for companies in the chip-manufacturing supply chain. Applied Materials said it identifies alternative sources for components to make sure they are available.
Washington is becoming increasingly strict on Chinese imports. The two main U.S. presidential candidates have pledged to get tougher on trade with China, and the semiconductor industry is seen as particularly critical because of its importance to national security.
The U.S., Japan and Europe are spending tens of billions of dollars on support for chip manufacturing in a bid to gain more control over the process.
In recent years, U.S. lawmakers have blocked China from acquiring the most advanced chips and chip-making equipment. That equipment is generally made or designed in the U.S. and in regions friendly to the U.S., including Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Western Europe.
The steps by Applied Materials and others involve trade in the opposite direction, when Chinese parts or tools are acquired by semiconductor-equipment makers based in the U.S. or U.S.-friendly regions. U.S. officials fear that if companies rely on Chinese suppliers for parts, it could hand Beijing a card to play against the U.S. in a crisis.
The Commerce Department last year issued rules requiring American toolmakers to obtain licenses before sharing technical details and plans with Chinese suppliers. They were given a temporary license to keep such current suppliers, one that expires at the end of 2025. This summer, the department made explicit that suppliers outside China were also subject to these controls if their parent company was based in China.
Plainview, N.Y.-based Veeco, which makes processing systems for the semiconductor industry, issued a written directive to vendors telling them to immediately halt the use of any new Chinese suppliers and wean themselves off existing ones by the end of 2025, according to a copy of the directive reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Veeco didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Applied Materials and Lam Research informed their vendors of their directives verbally, and didn’t include it in any official vendor guidelines or agreements, people familiar with the matter said.
Finding alternatives to Chinese suppliers isn’t always easy, and any overt move to sideline the country risks angering policymakers in one of the world’s largest markets for semiconductor-making equipment. China is the biggest customer for both Applied Materials and Lam Research globally.
In China, a reciprocal drive to push U.S. technology out of the country is under way, with state-owned companies in finance, energy and other sectors moving to replace foreign software and hardware in their systems.
The rules have left some Chinese contractors in a bind. Shenyang Fortune Precision Equipment, a supplier to Applied Materials, opened a factory in Singapore this year expecting it could serve foreign customers including the U.S. manufacturer, according to people familiar with the matter.
Fortune set up the plant close to Applied Materials’s office in Singapore. Now, because of its Chinese backing, the factory has yet to receive authorization to supply Applied Materials, the people said.
Danny Low, a business development director at the Singapore plant, declined to comment on the relationship with Applied Materials but said the factory’s reach extends beyond U.S. toolmakers to equipment manufacturing customers around the world.
Other Chinese suppliers are exploring workarounds, such as setting up joint ventures or holding companies in third countries.
One executive at a Chinese firm making components for the semiconductor industry said his company set up a holding company in Singapore that was in turn looking at a joint venture with a Malaysian company to manufacture precision components in Malaysia. The goal is to keep supplying U.S. companies.