Leading semiconductor chip stocks drop on reports of escalation in China tech war
Christopher Hutton
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Leading semiconductor chip providers saw their stock prices drop after a report alleged that the Biden administration was considering restrictions on the export of chips used to power artificial intelligence.
Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices both saw their stocks drop more than 2% on Wednesday, a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Commerce Department was considering adding additional restrictions on chip sales to companies in China, including a complete stop to Nvidia’s ability to sell chips there. The limits would add to a growing number of export controls implemented by the White House to limit China’s ability to develop military-grade technology.
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Several other chip companies have also been affected. Chip manufacturer Qualcomm slipped more than 2%, while Marvell and Broadcom fell about 1% in response.
The additional restrictions could be implemented as early as next month, according to people familiar with the matter.
Officials in the Commerce Department previously restricted the ability of Nvidia to provide some of its more advanced chips to China in September, a decision that cost the company $400 million in sales. The manufacturer attempted to respond by creating a cheaper chip known as the A800. The current proposed rules would restrict the sales of the A800 without licensing.
Nvidia has slammed the export controls. “If we are deprived of the Chinese market, we don’t have a contingency for that,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in May. “There is no other China; there is only one China.” Huang argued that restricting the U.S. ability to sell chips overseas would not only lose U.S. businesses money but would force China to develop their own chips.
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The Chinese government has also cut back on government funding for improving chip manufacturing, which could slow the country’s ability to keep up with the U.S. in chip development.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced on Thursday that the United States would construct at least two new semiconductor factory hubs with the money provided by President Joe Biden’s CHIPS Act, bipartisan legislation that provided more than $52 billion in funds to subsidize domestic manufacturing of chips.