As details about requirements for companies that receive funding enabled by the CHIPS and Science Act emerge, it's becoming clear that the act will not only boost the American semiconductor sector, but will also severely restrict investments in the Chinese chip industry by companies that receive money from the U.S. government. This will have drastic effects on Chinese foundries and memory makers, who will lose significant market share.
Wafer fab equipment makers from the U.S. already cannot supply tools that can be used to produce logic chips with non-planar transistors on 14 / 16nm nodes and below, 3D NAND with 128 or more layers, and DRAM memory chips of 18nm half-pitch or less. But the requirements for companies getting funds under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act mean that these firms will not be allowed to invest in any of their fabs in China, according to a report by TrendForce. This will have a drastic effect on multinational companies like Samsung, SK Hynix, and TSMC, all of whom have large fabs in China and will likely apply for funding under the U.S. bill.
