Micron hit with ban on sales into Chinese ‘critical infrastructure’
China’s cyber regulator has said that products made by memory maker Micron Technology Inc. (Boise, Idaho) had failed its network security review and it has imposed a purchasing ban.
The Cyberspace Adminsitration of China (www.cac.gov.cn) posted a note late Sunday saying that Micron’s products have “relatively serious potential network security issues, which pose a major security risk to my country’s critical information infrastructure supply chain and affect my country’s national security.”
The note said that operators of critical information infrastructure in China must stop purchasing Micron products. The definition of critical information infrastructure is not given but would likely include transport and finance as well as communications.
The ban could be less serious if non-Chinese companies operating in China are allowed to continue buying DRAMs and NAND flash components from Micron.
The CAC did not provide details of the issues it had found or in what products they were found. Nor did it list particular products but simply said operators of critical infrastructure must stop purchasing Micron products.
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The note concluded: “China firmly promotes high-level opening up to the outside world. As long as it [sic] abides by Chinese laws and regulations, companies from all countries and various platforms are welcome to enter the Chinese market.”
The ruling was expected after the announcement of the review in March (see Chinese cybersecurity regulator to examine Micron chips).
However, with the US and China in the midst of a trade war in which many sanctions have been taken to prevent China gaining access to leading-edge chips and advanced chipmaking equipment, the move may be seen as a tit-for-tat response.
Micron is a major supplier of DRAMs and NAND flash to China along with such firms as Samsung and SK Hynix. Micron has sales offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as a chip packaging facility in the city of Xian but said it would pull its DRAM design operation out of China early in 2022 (see Micron pulls DRAM design out of China).
Micron reportedly derives around 10 percent of its revenue from China. The majority of Micron’s sales into China are to non-Chinese firms for use in products manufactured there.
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Chinese cybersecurity regulator to examine Micron chips
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Micron pulls DRAM design out of China
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