US Commerce Secretary Raimondo Challenges China's Ban on Micron Technology Memory Chips

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo emphasized the U.S. will not accept China's ban on purchases of Micron Technology memory chips, characterizing it as unacceptable economic coercion. She assured that the U.S., in conjunction with its allies, is working diligently to address this issue.

China's Cyber Security Review Office made public on May 21 that Micron failed to pass its network security review, leading to a ban on infrastructure operators purchasing from the U.S.-based chip manufacturer.

Functioning under the purview of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Cyber Security Review Office did not disclose specifics regarding the products under scrutiny or the methodology employed for the review.

China's decree came following the G7 leaders' consensus to challenge China’s economic intimidation through new strategies.

Raimondo, representing the U.S., perceives these maneuvers as unwarranted targeting of an individual U.S. firm and blatant economic coercion, which the country will neither accept nor expect to succeed.

Micron’s CFO, Mark Murphy, confessed their bewilderment regarding the specific security concerns China was referencing, affirming that they have received no customer grievances about their product security.

Raimondo broached the Micron topic during her recent meeting with China's Commerce Minister, Wang Wentao.

China's partial ban on Micron’s products stands to profit South Korean companies, including SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

The ramifications of this ban on Boise, Idaho-based Micron, the premier U.S. memory chip manufacturer, will hinge on the range of China's impositions.

Murphy discussed that the considerations for determining the ban's impact would involve understanding China’s interpretation of critical information infrastructure operators (CIIOs), who are now barred from procuring Micron’s products.

Murphy highlighted that they project the impact to be in the lower to upper single-digit percentages of their revenue.

Micron pledged to maintain open lines of communication with the Chinese authorities.

Photo: Micron Newsroom