Micron vows $600 million China investment weeks after chip ban

Micron Technology Inc. promised to invest another 4.3 billion yuan ($602 million) in its Chinese chip-packaging plant, a significant outlay announced weeks after Beijing imposed curbs on the use of its semiconductors.

The largest US memory chipmaker will acquire equipment and add assembly lines at its existing facility in the central city of Xi’an over coming years, it announced in a post on Chinese social media platform WeChat. That should create 500 jobs, bringing its staffing in the country to more than 4,500, the company added.

Micron’s decision coincides with the Chinese government’s ruling in May to bar its chips from “critical infrastructure” over cybersecurity concerns. US lawmakers have decried the move as a thinly veiled attack on an American company, at a time Washington itself is imposing sanctions on China.

The technology sector has become a key battlefield over national security between the two largest economies, with Washington having already blacklisted Chinese tech firms, cut off the flow of sophisticated processors and banned its citizens from providing certain help to the Chinese chip industry. 

The ban on Micron’s chips exacerbated the uncertainty dogging US chipmakers that sell to China, the world’s biggest market for semiconductors. Companies like Qualcomm Inc., Broadcom Inc. and Intel Corp. deliver billions of dollars’ worth of chips to the country, which imports more semiconductors than oil.