Chinese chipmaker asks suppliers to buy back banned gear

Global chipmaking gear makers should treat Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. with fairness and buy back equipment which the US-sanctioned Chinese memory chipmaker is barred from using, a senior company executive said.

“Machine suppliers should buy back the equipment and components we have purchased legally if we can’t use them,” Yangtze Memory chairman and acting Chief Executive Officer Chen Nanxiang said in a defiant speech at an industry event in Shanghai on Thursday.

The company is China’s foremost developer of memory chips, but broad US export restrictions and its inclusion in a trade blacklist late last year deprived it from access to the latest manufacturing hardware. Chen lamented the “broken” state of the global supply chain today as a result of US-led tech sanctions on China.

The rush to set up advanced fabrication plants in places including the US and Europe is disrupting the supply-demand balance and threatens to lead to oversupply, Chen said. Voicing support for free global trade — a common refrain among chip firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and ASML Holding NV — the executive said no amount of redundant domestic supply would ever be enough to replace a truly international supply ecosystem.

“The global chip industry depends on globalization to develop,” Chen said.