According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the chairman of the House of Representatives’ committee on China intends to meet with a group representing the semiconductor business to voice his worries regarding American investments in China’s chip industry.
The meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday but was later moved owing to scheduling issues, according to the source. It hasn’t been moved yet.
The Semiconductor Industry Association is interested in meeting with Representative Mike Gallagher, a powerful Republican legislator whose select committee has pushed the Biden administration to take a stronger position on shipping American technology to China, the source added.
The association speaks for significant semiconductor companies like Intel and Nvidia, whose sales to China have been impacted by recent changes to U.S. export regulations.
According to the source, Gallagher intends to explain to the group why, in his opinion, less sophisticated processors should be covered by U.S. regulations that were tightened in October and prevented the sale of powerful artificial intelligence chips to China. According to the source, Gallagher also intends to discuss with the group how to limit the potential shipment of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.
U.S. investment in Chinese chip companies is reportedly one of the planned conversation topics. Venture capital divisions of businesses like Intel, Qualcomm, and others have made investments in Chinese IT enterprises.
According to the source, Gallagher will also express his worries that China’s massive effort to increase manufacturing capacity for less sophisticated chips used in cars, washing machines, and other commonplace products could eventually lead to China dumping those chips on the American market and forcing American producers of those chips out of business.