News U.S. Lawmakers Concerned About Apple's Decision to Use YMTC's 3D NAND

[Admin]

Apple confirms it's evaluating YMTC's 3D NAND memory for iPhones set to be sold to China.

U.S. Lawmakers Concerned About Apple's Decision to Use YMTC's 3D NAND : Read more

 

[gg83]

I really like Antons writing style and his ability to stay neutral and not insert their own opinions. It is hypocritical to complain about China subsidies when we are doing similar with the chips act.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

I really like Antons writing style and his ability to stay neutral and not insert their own opinions. It is hypocritical to complain about China subsidies when we are doing similar with the chips act.

I half agree with your assessment however, their is a big difference between a National incentive program to convince private companies to build manufacturing facilities in country and being a state owned business subsidized and controlled heavily by the CCP which shares all of its technology, including foreign technology needed to manufacture for international companies, with the People’s Liberation Army to help create offensive weapons and capabilities.

 

[WINTERLORD]

My concern with Apple using stuff backed by the chinease military is leaks of confadential information around the globe for Apple users

 

[gg83]

I half agree with your assessment however, their is a big difference between a National incentive program to convince private companies to build manufacturing facilities in country and being a state owned business subsidized and controlled heavily by the CCP which shares all of its technology, including foreign technology needed to manufacture for international companies, with the People’s Liberation Army to help create offensive weapons and capabilities.

Definitely true. I feel like most of our tech starts as military tech then goes to market.

 

[NatalieEGH]

Please forgive me. According to what I have read the government of the USA (I am a citizen), fears phones and devices made by Huawei may have Chinese government spyware? The Huawei company, already has strong ties to the People's Liberation Army (the founder was a deputy regimental head) and has been accused of putting Chinese spyware on phones sold outside of China.

Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) is PROVIDING chips and hardware to Huawei. "Another reason why U.S. lawmakers are worried about YMTC is that it allegedly supplied 3D NAND memory and/or products to Huawei without obtaining an export license from the U.S. Department of Commerce. As of 2020, everyone making products for Huawei using technologies developed in the U.S. (hardware tools used in semiconductor fabs, electronic design automation tools used to develop chips, etc.) must obtain a license from the U.S. Department of Commerce. " While it may be a violation of a law in the USA, I rather doubt it is a violation of Chinese law. If the Chinese do not choose to recognize the laws of the USA, there are several actions: 1) Go to war, never a good choice; 2) Embargo, considering we get a large percentage of our chips and boards from China at least until the $72 billion multiplies chip and board production by at least 3-4 times current level, that would be more damaging to the USA; and 3) rattle sabers then sit down and be quiet

The article states, ""There is credible evidence that YMTC is breaking export control laws by selling goods to Huawei. Apple will effectively be transferring knowledge and know-how to YMTC that will supercharge its capabilities and help the CCP achieve its national goals."" Please tell me how Apple is transferring knowledge other than possibly providing chip and port pin-out information. I can easily determine that information with any multimeter and oscilloscope.

I truly doubt there will be any technology transfer to the China through a company SELLING parts.

As to the spyware, well I rather suspect that is there already. Carrying around a cell phone is carrying around a tracking device. Unless the device is properly isolated, the battery removed, and any capacitors discharged, the phones provided by T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Apple, ... can all be used for domestic spying on the customers. If the government of the USA is so scared of a technology transfer to our international enemies, perhaps they should have special phones made by the government and issued to government employees and to contractor, and subcontractor personnel.

 

[escksu]

Why don't congress pay apple 1 trillion and ask them to move manufacturing back to USA?? If trump and Biden could print trillions of dollars, what's another trillion?? Can also extend it to other companies too..

 

[systemBuilder_49]

This is old fashioned Russian communist behavior! Force the Western company to use local parts and pretty soon force them to build local factories in their country and pretty soon force Apple to be paid in iphones from apples own factory! Because the communist country is incapable of building things themselves!

Shame on you apple!

 

[rluker5]

I really like Antons writing style and his ability to stay neutral and not insert their own opinions.

I do as well. It is a valuable talent when few can show restraint.
Just look at this comment section. I'm not saying expressing political opinions is bad, part of being human. But whichever side you are on with whatever comes up, Anton is coming out of this smelling like a rose.

 

[escksu]

My concern with Apple using stuff backed by the chinease military is leaks of confadential information around the globe for Apple users

Almost true.... Except that a memory chip alone is usually not capable of doing that.

 

[The Historical Fidelity]

Almost true.... Except that a memory chip alone is usually not capable of doing that.

The problem is the insertion of ghost circuits into chip designs that perform specific functions in the background undetectable by the OS, such as transferring data back to the source of the ghost circuit. Several US companies have found these circuit additions in their products after being produced by Chinese semiconductor manufacturers and have resulted in intellectual property theft tracked back to servers in China. I will see if I can find the Asianometry YT video that discusses this.

 

[traxxmy]

I really like Antons writing style and his ability to stay neutral and not insert their own opinions. It is hypocritical to complain about China subsidies when we are doing similar with the chips act.

You can see the irony is it

 

[edzieba]

Why don't congress pay apple 1 trillion and ask them to move manufacturing back to USA?? If trump and Biden could print trillions of dollars, what's another trillion?? Can also extend it to other companies too..

A trillion is probably not sufficed to bring the entire microelectronics manufacturing supply chain (not just final assembly, but all the passives, board fabbing, CNC milling, raw material procurement, fiddly little bits like fasteners and connectors, etc) onshore. Maybe add few zero extra orders of magnitude to the end of that figure to come close.
China is not the microelectronics juggernaut just because "China cheap". it's because south-east Asia has a massive concentration of industrial capacity all geared towards electronics manufacture from raw material extraction to finished product assembly. They also have both trained technicians and skilled engineers - much as the "China just steals tech from the US, they can't make it themselves!" narrative is simple and comforting, it remains just as false as when the same claims were made about Japan in the post-war years.

 

[watzupken]

Traditionally, companies source parts for their product anywhere they want, other than sanction countries. So I don't see anything wrong with Apple here. US companies have also been using China to manufacture and sourced materials from China. So now it is a problem? US have claimed that China is spying on them for a long time. Huawei is a good example. Yet after so many years, there is no conclusive or definitive evidence of them doing so. And are they not doing the same and have been called out by whistle blowers themselves? No countries are clean when it comes to spying, be it internally or externally, in the name of "intelligence".