FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202)
224-2353
September 30, 2022
Gallagher, Cotton Introduce Legislation to Impose Crippling Sanctions on YMTC
WASHINGTON,
D.C. – Rep. Mike Gallagher
(R-WI) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) today introduced legislation that would
impose crippling sanctions on Chinese memory chip manufacturer Yangtze Memory
Technologies Co (YMTC). The bill would place YMTC on the Specially Designated
Nationals List and would also direct the President to take similar actions
against other advanced Chinese memory chip manufacturers of similar
development.
Recent reports suggest that Apple may choose YMTC as a memory chip supplier for
the latest iPhone, which would expose iPhone users to a number of security
risks, give legitimacy to YMTC despite its ties to the Chinese Communist Party,
and expand US dependency on Chinese semiconductors. This legislation would
wall off YMTC from the U.S. economy and prevent Apple from moving forward with
selecting YMTC memory chips.
"YMTC has well documented ties to the CCP, and their push to serve as
Apple's flash memory provider is just the Party's latest attempt to increase
our dependence on China and undermine our national security. In light
of recent reports, is long past time for us to take decisive action against
this threat," said Rep. Gallagher. "This bill
will defend the security of our semiconductor supply chains and
combat YMTC and other CCP-backed actors from using predatory
pricing to crowd more secure options out of the critical flash memory
market.
“The Chinese Communist Party wants to use YMTC to dominate the global microchip
market so the world depends on them for this critical technology. The United
States can’t take that risk for security reasons alone—much less the dangers of
accompanying Chinese espionage, or YMTC’s human rights record, or their likely
violation of U.S. sanctions. Our bill would sanction YMTC and all similar
Chinese manufacturers tied to the Chinese state," said Sen. Cotton.
Specifically, this bill would:
· Direct the President to impose sanctions on YMTC to the full extent that International Emergency Economic Powers Act allows, thus adding them to the SDN list, and
· Require the President to use sanctions on other advanced Chinese memory chip manufacturers.
Click HERE for bill text.
###