China says U.S. chipmaker Micron’s products pose ‘significant security risks’ in escalating semiconductor battle

The products caused “significant security risks to our critical information infrastructure supply chain” which would affect national security, according to a statement from China’s Cyberspace Administration on Sunday.

Results of the review came more than a month after China announced an investigation on imports from America’s largest memory-chip maker. That opened a new front in the escalating semiconductor battle between the the US and China.

The world’s biggest economies increasingly see each other’s tech sectors as risks to national security. The US has already blacklisted Chinese tech firms, sought to cut the flow of sophisticated processors and banned its citizens from providing certain help to the country’s chip industry. 

Micron said after the review was announced that it was cooperating fully in the inquiry and “committed to conducting all business with uncompromising integrity.” It also said it stood by the security of its products and commitments to customers.

Operators of key information infrastructure should stop purchasing Micron products according to relevant law and regulations, the regulator said Sunday. The checks into Micron products are “necessary measures” to safeguard national security, it said.

China welcomes products and services provided by companies of all countries as long as those goods comply with Chinese laws and regulations, according to the statement.

Micron is the last remaining maker of computer memory based in the US, having survived brutal industry downturns that forced larger companies such as Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. to bow out. The company has relatively little exposure to China compared with its peers, and it doesn’t use the country as a major manufacturing base.