Chinese chipmaker YMTC is asking American employees to leave the company

midian182

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In brief: Chinese memory chip giant Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp (YMTC) is reportedly asking its American employees to leave the company due to the US government's new restrictions designed to quash China's semiconductor manufacturing ambitions.

Citing four people close to the firm, the Financial Times reports that an unspecified number of US citizens and green card holders are being forced to leave YMTC, and several in China have already been shown the door.

Some of the Americans who left were said to have been key to YMTC's breakthroughs in the area of NAND memory chip production. "But there's no other way around [them leaving]," said a senior engineer at the company.

The US sanctions introduced earlier this month restrict shipments of American-made electronics or other items that China could use to create chipmaking tools or equipment. It also prevents non-Chinese companies in other countries from using American equipment to service Chinese customers unless granted a license by the US.

TSMC has already warned of the "serious challenges" the industry is facing as a result of the US/China spat. However, the Taiwanese firm was granted a one-year license by the US to continue ordering American chipmaking equipment that will allow it to expand in China.

The restrictions also require US citizens to seek permission from the Department of Commerce before providing support to Chinese fabs. It's suspected to be the reason why YMTC chief executive Simon Yang, a US passport holder, stepped down to become deputy chair before the sanctions were announced. It's unclear if he will be forced to leave the company.

"Asking staff to resign is necessary for the company and the right move for employees' personal risk as well," said a person familiar with the situation at YMTC.

"You either give up your citizenship or quit your job," said one Chinese semiconductor executive.

This marks another blow for YMTC. There were reports that Apple was considering the Chinese company as a partner to supply 3D NAND chips for the latest iPhones, but the US export controls led to a rethink by Apple.

The restrictions are impacting employees, including top-ranking officials, who won't give up their US passports at all Chinese chipmakers, with companies negotiating exits and rescinding job offers. "Now we are not just trying to build up 'US-free' manufacturing lines but also de-Americanise the teams," said one executive.

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The suffocation of YMTC is very sad in terms of global competition (although the political reasons and who is the culprit in the past are clear) - if YMTC had turned around to the fullest, SSD prices would have fallen by 2 times in 2023. And we could finally buy cheap SLC drives for 666GB-1TB, by simply switching in the firmware from the native mode TLC 2TB - QLC 4TB to SLC. Already, retail is full of 2TB YMTC SSDs from the Chinese on 3D TLC with prices starting at $100. Oh, it's a pity that the whole planet quarreled ...
 
The problem is not with students, but with the technological base for the Chinese, which they do not have at the most modern level without the support of American, European and Japanese/South Korean equipment, technologies and the most qualified specialists from there. And all this is a Western alliance, and they cut off the oxygen both for the purchase of hardware/software and for its support. Even to steal this, you need brains capable of understanding the schemes to the smallest nuances and repeating them. Remember how much the Chinese tried to repeat at least space technology and aircraft from the USSR. Decades have gone by. And it's (hi-tech) even more difficult...

Is it possible to hope that in a totalitarian country, where any independent opinion can lead to prison, there will be a fertile environment for the highest creative stratum? And you need a lot of people in many areas and work extremely smoothly and efficiently in large teams, which someone also needs to effectively manage in order to minimize the resource optimally without social conflicts. It only seems easy from the outside, but the whole West stands on such a creative layer of people and a social base for its cultivation and support. Well, at least it was in the past, now of course everything is going downhill ...
 
The problem is not with students, but with the technological base for the Chinese

The problem is that they don't get rid of one person to make the country well again; the same happens on Russia, NC, etc... those maniacs can produce (again) a WW, kill millions of people, kill the planet but no-one moves a thing though...
 
So, basically they got everything they needed.

..Now its time to show them the door.

Yea and if the US government was not being huge douches those American employees would also still have their jobs intact. USA can not control China so they hit them with these Sanctions to show them who is the big bad boss. Well at some point it's gonna come back on the USA 10 fold or worse they keep going this route with China which could set off a war but it will be a cyberwar and trust me there are 100 China hackers to every 1 USA hacker it won't go well for the USA and because Canada is right there with the USA we will get hit as well...go USA you rock /nott
 
The problem is not with students, but with the technological base for the Chinese, which they do not have at the most modern level without the support of American, European and Japanese/South Korean equipment, technologies and the most qualified specialists from there. And all this is a Western alliance, and they cut off the oxygen both for the purchase of hardware/software and for its support. Even to steal this, you need brains capable of understanding the schemes to the smallest nuances and repeating them. Remember how much the Chinese tried to repeat at least space technology and aircraft from the USSR. Decades have gone by. And it's (hi-tech) even more difficult...

Is it possible to hope that in a totalitarian country, where any independent opinion can lead to prison, there will be a fertile environment for the highest creative stratum? And you need a lot of people in many areas and work extremely smoothly and efficiently in large teams, which someone also needs to effectively manage in order to minimize the resource optimally without social conflicts. It only seems easy from the outside, but the whole West stands on such a creative layer of people and a social base for its cultivation and support. Well, at least it was in the past, now of course everything is going downhill ...

Well, there was a Top Gear episode where they have gone to China to look into their car industry. Of course there were many jokes about it, but at the end of that episode, they have shown what they had 15 years prior to then. Same will happen with everything else, they heavily invest in STEM students and sooner or later they will come up with their own technology, and then we should be afraid, very afraid...
 
Same will happen with everything else, they heavily invest in STEM students and sooner or later they will come up with their own technology, and then we should be afraid, very afraid...
Of course they will, but this technology will never be as advanced as it was possible in the West with its more fruitful environment. At least in the past. That is why I constantly write that civilization has gone down a spiral of degradation, because the cowardly cowards in the West could not once in time stop the totalitarian habits of the authorities in China and did not support the progressive civilian stratum of people there. They went along with the larger, reactionary-remaining part, which needs nothing but "bread and circuses" in life. And now it is finally returning like a boomerang to the whole West. And this is fair.

it won't go well for the USA and because Canada is right there with the USA we will get hit as well...go USA you rock /nott
For many years, the Canadian authorities allowed the kleptocratic layer of the Chinese (and Russian, Iranian and other totalitarian and authoritarian) "elites" to buy up real estate and other assets in Canada, driving up prices for it to monstrous levels and did not turn a blind eye to frankly dirty money from there. You also arrives as a boomerang. Everything is fair. Everything in this life has a price. Non-resistance to evil, too. And who chooses these politicians - ordinary citizens of Canada. So who is to blame for what happened? Voters or Martians? The same is true in the USA and in Russia and in China. The lazy, poorly educated, greedy (mercantile) and civic cowardly majority of the population is always to blame for everything. Operating on the principle - "my hut is on the edge" until the fire is come under their feet.


The population, even in the "developed" countries of the West, mentally and civilly, is decades and many times behind the required level of civic responsibility for controlling the authoritarian and corrupt habits of the authorities and a significant part of immoral business. What, then, to speak of the more backward countries of the world? If the "vanguard" detachment of humanity is mired in social and mental problems?
 
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why there are only THREE manufacturers of DRAM in the world. This is just the US government covering for capitalist oligarchic cronies at Samsung, Hynix and Micron.

LOL. Not at your post so much as I like the wording. Thus is why I can agree with you, but your posts are fun to read. China and Russia are so damned controlling of their populations, it's very scary. And the Woke of the US think its a good thing. My massage therapist is Chinese. She said she would never go back. It's far too restricting and everything is still being COVID controlled. It was the perfect storm for China to put the clamp on its population to a level never seen before.

She still talks to her family in China, loves her home, but loves the freedoms she now has.
 
The suffocation of YMTC is very sad in terms of global competition (although the political reasons and who is the culprit in the past are clear) - if YMTC had turned around to the fullest, SSD prices would have fallen by 2 times in 2023. And we could finally buy cheap SLC drives for 666GB-1TB, by simply switching in the firmware from the native mode TLC 2TB - QLC 4TB to SLC. Already, retail is full of 2TB YMTC SSDs from the Chinese on 3D TLC with prices starting at $100. Oh, it's a pity that the whole planet quarreled ...
The capitalist oligarchs don't want competition, they want world domination and the US government is their puppet to ensure that this happens. The future that "visionaries" like Elon Musk see is paradise for them and dystopia for everyone else.
It's OK, YMTC can simply continue to steal IP via American colleges, businesses, and any educational institutions they can get their agent....*AHEM* Transfer students to get enrolled at.
Wouldn't it be great if these corporations actually were making the tech in the USA where the Chinese can't get at it? Unfortunately, your psychopathic billionaire oligarchs don't care at all about the USA, just US dollars. This is why they have all of their production done in Asia (with China involved a lot of the time because they provide near-slave labour). If they cared at all about the USA, they'd be employing US citizens and their production would be on US soil. This would protect their IPs, US national security and employ US citizens. Of course, since they don't give a rat's posterior about you or any other US citizen, things like this keep happening.

If you're having China producing your tech, can you really blame them for using what they've learnt to benefit their own country? I find it really difficult to be angry at China for this because they're supposed to be looking out for their own people. I'd be far more pissed at the American corporations that have been allowing this to happen for this long. The issues that the USA has with the Chinese getting the secrets of American corporate IPs are completely self-inflicted. Maybe you should instead be angry at the opulently wealthy American oligarchs who cause these situations and the crooked American politicians who do nothing to prevent it. I don't understand your silence on that, something that you as a US citizen can actually help to change.
No need, The US sent them over there specifically to share the data during the previous administration.
That wouldn't surprise me. That would constitute a "perfect conversation" under the previous regime, wouldn't it? :laughing:
Well, there was a Top Gear episode where they have gone to China to look into their car industry. Of course there were many jokes about it, but at the end of that episode, they have shown what they had 15 years prior to then. Same will happen with everything else, they heavily invest in STEM students and sooner or later they will come up with their own technology, and then we should be afraid, very afraid...
Afraid of what exactly? They're already nuclear and it doesn't get any worse than that. I don't understand the crippling fear that Americans have. Have you considered for one moment that no country could challenge the USA in a war? Attacking ANY country in NATO is political (and literal) suicide so I don't understand why you think China would dare do that. Sure they talk a big game, but they kinda have to, eh? They won't dare piss off the USA because not only would they lose badly in a war with the USA, they'd also starve because the USA buys a crap-tonne of their products.
 
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Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959

This is how US got their technology....I'll tell you one more thing : there are no "gender studies" in China. God luck Americans.
 
LOL. Not at your post so much as I like the wording. Thus is why I can agree with you, but your posts are fun to read.
Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoy them. I do try to keep a bit of a sarcastic tone to them because there's nothing worse than being boring. :D
She still talks to her family in China, loves her home, but loves the freedoms she now has.
I agree with the fact that there are FAR more freedoms in the West. I think that there are too many in fact because you're also free to be homeless and starve to death because the private sector is free to pay you nothing and work you like a machine.

In the West, the freedoms that governments give the citizens are taken away by the corporations that employ them.
 
In the West, the freedoms that governments give the citizens are taken away by the corporations that employ them.
This is again a fundamentally wrong point of view. Freedom is not given, but taken by the strong with weapons in their hands, if it is not possible to reach an agreement peacefully. So it has always been and so it will always be. The world is a balance of equally strong. Respect is already the highest category, accessible not to many.

The government didn't give anyone freedom. The authorities are the servants of the people. Do you still remember this? This population was forced to adopt the necessary laws and received rights by force, where it was required.

Let me remind you that the US Constitution directly states the duty of the people to overthrow the criminal government, if they consider it as such. And this is a very broad concept. For example, in the Constitution of Russia, this right and duty was not prescribed to the people, but does it really matter for a strong people? The constitution is the rules, and the rules are constantly broken. Moreover, they are almost always violated by those in power, those who are called upon to observe and protect these rules(rights and duties, that most, including politicians, prefer not to remember). Thus, the conclusion follows logically - only the people, by their active participation (including, if necessary, forceful influence) can ensure the observance of their rights and freedoms. And here the main question arises - who is this "people" (as a key community)? Me, you, we? Where is the limit of sufficiency, if most of the society is already insane, stupid and cowardly (As in Russia, China and even Iran, despite the protests)? Who then should be considered "the people" - an active and progressive minority or a reactionary majority? And in the USA - who are the "people" now?

And where is the red border of the legality of the actions of the "people" (as a certain key community)? It turns out that any Constitution becomes meaningless at the moment when some community decides that it is no longer legitimate, because. limits the restoration of their rights and freedoms. There is no one to judge the winner but the winner. And woe to the loser...Winners write human history, not losers...

Therefore, corporations take away only what they can take from the weak and unorganized. that is, what they were allowed to take away voluntarily, without a fight.

Recently, there was a well-known case when an employee in Europe was fired by an American company because he refused to sit under the camera for 8 hours while working remotely. He, as a citizen, sued and won the case. But what did the immoral bosses of the American company do? They generally closed the European branch, considering that it was uncomfortable to conduct business in this way, respecting human rights to privacy. They will still be forced to pay fines from the US, but the example is indicative of how much more toxic the working environment (and rights) in the US than in Europe. But it also allows fast and nimble new businessmen to create new startups without much risk of layoffs, as in Europe. But precisely because of these risks - salaries in the US are much higher than in Europe. In the US, people go to work at a young age, but prefer to live in retirement in Europe, where the social infrastructure is much more human-oriented than business-oriented.
 
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China and Russia are so damned controlling of their populations, it's very scary. And the Woke of the US think its a good thing. My massage therapist is Chinese. She said she would never go back. It's far too restricting and everything is still being COVID controlled. It was the perfect storm for China to put the clamp on its population to a level never seen before.

She still talks to her family in China, loves her home, but loves the freedoms she now has.
I believe it. China is quite an authoritarian country. I wouldn't want to live there either. Come to think of it, I wouldn't even want to visit it.
This is again a fundamentally wrong point of view. Freedom is not given, but taken by the strong with weapons in their hands, if it is not possible to reach an agreement peacefully. So it has always been and so it will always be. The world is a balance of equally strong. Respect is already the highest category, accessible not to many.

The government didn't give anyone freedom. The authorities are the servants of the people. Do you still remember this? This population was forced to adopt the necessary laws and received rights by force, where it was required.

Let me remind you that the US Constitution directly states the duty of the people to overthrow the criminal government, if they consider it as such. And this is a very broad concept. For example, in the Constitution of Russia, this right and duty was not prescribed to the people, but does it really matter for a strong people? The constitution is the rules, and the rules are constantly broken. Moreover, they are almost always violated by those in power, those who are called upon to observe and protect these rules(rights and duties, that most, including politicians, prefer not to remember). Thus, the conclusion follows logically - only the people, by their active participation (including, if necessary, forceful influence) can ensure the observance of their rights and freedoms. And here the main question arises - who is this "people" (as a key community)? Me, you, we? Where is the limit of sufficiency, if most of the society is already insane, stupid and cowardly (As in Russia, China and even Iran, despite the protests)? Who then should be considered "the people" - an active and progressive minority or a reactionary majority? And in the USA - who are the "people" now?

And where is the red border of the legality of the actions of the "people" (as a certain key community)? It turns out that any Constitution becomes meaningless at the moment when some community decides that it is no longer legitimate, because. limits the restoration of their rights and freedoms. There is no one to judge the winner but the winner. And woe to the loser...Winners write human history, not losers...

Therefore, corporations take away only what they can take from the weak and unorganized. that is, what they were allowed to take away voluntarily, without a fight.

Recently, there was a well-known case when an employee in Europe was fired by an American company because he refused to sit under the camera for 8 hours while working remotely. He, as a citizen, sued and won the case. But what did the immoral bosses of the American company do? They generally closed the European branch, considering that it was uncomfortable to conduct business in this way, respecting human rights to privacy. They will still be forced to pay fines from the US, but the example is indicative of how much more toxic the working environment (and rights) in the US than in Europe. But it also allows fast and nimble new businessmen to create new startups without much risk of layoffs, as in Europe. But precisely because of these risks - salaries in the US are much higher than in Europe. In the US, people go to work at a young age, but prefer to live in retirement in Europe, where the social infrastructure is much more human-oriented than business-oriented.
Yes, and the end result? Life is now better in Europe, a place that was completely flattened by WWII while it's worse in the USA, a place that was greatly enriched through the Marshall Plan. One way is definitely better for the masses than the other.
 
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Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoy them. I do try to keep a bit of a sarcastic tone to them because there's nothing worse than being boring. :D

I agree with the fact that there are FAR more freedoms in the West. I think that there are too many in fact because you're also free to be homeless and starve to death because the private sector is free to pay you nothing and work you like a machine.

In the West, the freedoms that governments give the citizens are taken away by the corporations that employ them.
Spoken like a true communist.
 
I assure you this is not due to sanctions. China has been pushing foreigners out of the country for a while now and it would not surprise me if this has extended to Chinese companies.
 
Spoken like a true communist.

Pretty much. Thats why I read his comments looking for something funny in them. I don't take them seriously.

But we aren't "WOKE" AlaskaGuy, we don't stifle his opinion. He's allowed to say what he wants, just like the rest of us.
 
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Afraid of what exactly? They're already nuclear and it doesn't get any worse than that. I don't understand the crippling fear that Americans have. Have you considered for one moment that no country could challenge the USA in a war? Attacking ANY country in NATO is political (and literal) suicide so I don't understand why you think China would dare do that. Sure they talk a big game, but they kinda have to, eh? They won't dare piss off the USA because not only would they lose badly in a war with the USA, they'd also starve because the USA buys a crap-tonne of their products.
Unfortunately, history has thought us otherwise. Chinese will invade Taiwan, only matter of time, and USofA would be just a bystander, or best case do as they do in Ukraine, however, Chinese are much more brutal then the Ruskies and would not allow it. USA only dared to attack countries that are much weaker than any other respectful power like Russia/China. I mean Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Syria didn't stand a chance against NATO. Then again, Vietnam gave them a run for their money, but was reversed situation, Chinese and Ruskies were helping North Vietnamese back then. Also, recent pull out of Afghanistan was a total fiasco.

What we should be afraid of is that Chinese will develop their own technologies for manufacturing semiconductors at almost the same level as the West, but would be good enough and reliable for their own purposes. Ecosystems will be built around RISC V that is open source and will step away from Wintel as many are doing it already. Once they do, they'll drop us like a Plymouth hooker knickers when a big ship docks in....they don't need us, and they'll demand to stop using USD as a trade currency. This is only the beginning I'm afraid
 
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