Micron is pressuring the US Congress to reduce sales of chip equipment to Chinese rivals, the sources said

Written by Karen Freifeld

April 22 (Reuters) – Micron Technology, the largest US memory chipmaker, is pushing the US Congress to pass legislation that would impose new export restrictions on equipment used by its Chinese rivals to make chips, according to people familiar with the matter.

A panel of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday will vote on the “MATCH Act,” a bill designed to close loopholes in chipmaking equipment limits. It would also pressure foreign companies that sell equipment to Chinese chipmaking centers to comply with export restrictions on US companies such as Lam Research and Applied Materials.

The bill targets facilities operated by ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, as well as key technologies across the country.

Micron has told lawmakers that Washington needs to do more to prevent Chinese advances in the memory market, according to people familiar with the matter. They said that increased US action is necessary to prevent China from dominating the production of memory chips in the same way as the solar energy industry and other sectors, and it is a national security issue.

Micron did not respond to requests for comment. CXMT, YMTC and SMIC did not respond to requests for comment.

Korean chipmakers Samsung ⁠Electronics and SK Hynix now dominate the memory market, with Micron the No. 3 maker and the single largest US supplier.

But YMTC and CXMT are growing rapidly, despite export restrictions imposed on them by the US Department of Commerce.

YMTC is on the restricted trader list from 2022. CXMT Advanced Services are subject to US export restrictions.

The bill as it is now written would restrict most equipment from going to China — including DUV submersibles across the country, a market dominated by ASML of the Netherlands — and legislate how restrictions are imposed if negotiations fail.

It will also require a license from ASML and other foreign companies to service the equipment in the covered areas.

Micron representatives engaged with lawmakers throughout the drafting process, the sources said. They added that about a month ago, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra held a closed-door meeting with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He held the same table last month with Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Micron, based in Boise, Idaho, is building a large facility in New York. Other companies in the industry are also footing the bill, another source said, citing Tokyo Electron and US instrument makers Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA, which lost sales to export controls.

This month, the Commerce Department also posted photos of ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet meeting with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The MATCH Act is just one of many bills tied to export controls that will be voted on Wednesday by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Others address the Department of Commerce’s licensing, interagency process, Business Listings, enforcement, and sanctions.

A House foreign affairs panel staffer touted the slate as the biggest legislative push in the area since the Export Control Reform Act of 2018.

Kate Koren, who this year left the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees export controls, said the bureau’s leadership was not doing its job.

“There seems to be a pretty strong bipartisan consensus that the BIS was not as effective as it should have been last year,” said Koren, now at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

As Reuters reported, the office has been in turmoil and has closed new borders during a standoff with China, which is locked in trade talks.

A BIS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If the MATCH Act and other bills move forward on Wednesday, it’s just one step closer to possibly becoming law. A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate and could eventually be included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chris Sanders and David Gregorio)