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(JW Insights) Apr 27 -- Western tech companies are trying to protect their hard-won Chinese markets and can’t resist China’s chip market, Hong Kong-based Asia Times reported on April 24.

US semiconductor production equipment heavyweights Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA participated in the 25th China IC Manufacturing Annual Conference (CICD) and Supply Chain Innovation Forum held in Guangzhou of southern China’s Guangdong Province from April 17-19.

Their presence was notable given China’s new focus on tech self-reliance and supply chain security in the face of escalating US sanctions on its IC industry.

The event was sponsored and organized by the China Semiconductor Industry Association and other national and regional organizations related to materials, wafer processing, packaging, testing and finance.

Several domestic and international manufacturers, academic and research institutions, and infrastructure providers also participated. Apart from the three big US semiconductor companies, Germany’s Siemens and Zeiss and Japan’s Hitachi and Disco were in attendance, reported Asia Times.

China accounted for 26% of semiconductor production equipment sales in 2022, according to data compiled by global industry association SEMI. While Chinese chip equipment makers are not yet competitive in world markets, they have been handed a golden opportunity by US export restrictions, said the Asia Times report.

Guangdong Province is emerging as a new center of semiconductor design and manufacturing with some 40 semiconductor-related projects valued at RMB500 billion ($72.6 billion) either underway or in the planning stage. That’s almost 40% more than the $52.7 billion allocated to the US semiconductor industry by CHIPS Act.

Lam Research, which announced its March quarter results on April 19, said that China accounted for 22% of the company’s sales in the quarter by region.

Seagate, the world’s largest maker of hard disc drives (HDDs), has just been imposed a $300 million penalty for shipping about 7.4 million HDDs valued at $1.1 billion to Chinese tech giant Huawei between August 2020 and September 2021 in violation of US export controls. It was the largest single administrative penalty imposed in BIS history, said Asia Times.

(Yuan XY)