Beijing will welcome the American semiconductor manufacturer expanding its presence in the Chinese market, signaling further warming in ties between the world’s two largest economies, the Chinese minister of commerce informed the president of Micron Technology Inc. (MU.O.).
According to a brief statement posted on the commerce ministry’s website on Friday, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao assured Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO of Micron Technology, during a meeting on November 1 that China would maximize the environment for foreign investment and offer service guarantees for foreign businesses.
“We welcome Micron Technology to continue to take root in the Chinese market and achieve better development under the premise of complying with Chinese laws and regulations,” Wang stated.
According to China’s cyberspace authority, Micron failed a network security evaluation, forbidding Chinese critical infrastructure operators from purchasing memory chips from the American manufacturer.
Many saw China’s action against Micron as payback for Washington’s attempts to deny Beijing access to essential technologies. It happened only one day after the wealthy countries of the Group of Seven (G7) decided to “de-risk, not decouple” from China and as Washington pressured its allies to follow suit in limiting the semiconductor equipment shipment to China.
Wang and Mehrotra’s meeting on Wednesday coincides with a recent defusing of tensions between Beijing and Washington as representatives from both nations try to set up a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco later this month.
