China seeks easing of US export restrictions on memory chips in trade talks

During ongoing trade negotiations with the United States, China is pushing to relax export controls on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, according to the Financial Times.

These chips are critical for manufacturing AI processors, especially those integrating memory and logic components.

The export restrictions were imposed by the previous US administration.

Sources indicate that China is concerned the current limitations hinder the growth of domestic companies such as Huawei and SMIC. Loosening the controls would enable Beijing to produce millions of AI chips annually, providing a significant technological and economic edge.

Although Nvidia recently received a license to supply HBM chips (H20) to China, Chinese authorities have expressed doubts about their safety. State media claimed that H20 chips are “neither technologically advanced, environmentally friendly, nor secure” and may contain hardware backdoors.

Meanwhile, Huawei and SMIC have commenced mass production of their own AI chip, Ascend 910C, despite low yields and restrictions on access to advanced lithography equipment. CSIS estimates Huawei could manufacture up to 750,000 such chips using components previously sourced from TSMC, raising US concerns over potential sanctions evasion.

By Khagan Isayev