Ie “thaw”, this is what American President Joe Biden promised on Sunday, May 21, at the end of the G7 summit held in Hiroshima, Japan. Pointing this “stupid ball”, in reference to the surveillance machine shot down by the United States in early February, to explain the extreme freezing of communications between Washington and Beijing, he therefore promised a return to dialogue. But even if this warming occurs, the dialogue promises to remain muscular. With the sense of timeliness that we know them, the Chinese authorities have indeed contributed, this Sunday, to chilling relations between the two countries a little more.
The powerful Cyberspace Administration of China, which controls and censors the Internet in the country, has decided to ban “critical infrastructure”, such as telecom operators or banks, to obtain memory chips from the American manufacturer Micron. For administration, these components “pose a serious security risk” for China’s digital infrastructure.
Based in Boise, Idaho, Micron is not the most well-known of electronics companies, but it has built, in recent years, through acquisitions, a stronghold in electronic components. It is now the largest American memory producer and the third in the world, with nearly 30 billion dollars (27.8 billion euros) in sales in 2022.
Easily replaceable target
This is the first time that China has officially attacked an American company in this area, in addition by invoking the security of the country. Until now, it was rather the Americans who regularly raised security issues to justify trade blocking measures.
In October 2022, the White House banned its electronics companies from selling sensitive equipment, which could allow them to strengthen their military arsenal, to the Chinese. They had even convinced the Japanese and the Dutch to limit their exports of the most sophisticated materials and components.
The Chinese measure therefore appears to be a form of retaliation. And one more step in the escalation of tensions between the two countries. Until now, Beijing has rather evoked arguments of competition or regulation. This time, it is the security of the country that is invoked. Micron is an easy target, as the company is easily replaced by its two big competitors, the Koreans Samsung and SK Hynix.
China’s long march towards technological autonomy is still in its infancy, but the direction is set and the approach methodical. The world economy will not emerge unscathed from this East-West decoupling and it is not certain that the Asian neighbors will gladly agree to enter into this deadly game. Instead, they wait for the thaw.