China Bars Purchases of Micron Chips in Escalation of US Clash

China Bars Purchases of Micron Chips in Escalation of US Clash - Bloomberg
China fails Micron's products in security review, bars some purchases (channelnewsasia.com)

China fails Micron's products in security review, bars some purchases​

FILE PHOTO: A smartphone with a displayed Micron logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
21 May 2023 08:46PM(Updated: 21 May 2023 11:44PM)

BEIJING :China's cyberspace regulator said on Sunday that products made by U.S. memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology had failed its network security review and that it would bar operators of key infrastructure from procuring from the firm.
According to China's broad definition of critical information infrastructure, this could include sectors ranging from transport to finance.
"The review found that Micron's products have serious network security risks, which pose significant security risks to China's critical information infrastructure supply chain, affecting China's national security," the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement.
Micron said it had received the CAC's notice of conclusion of its review of the company's products sold in China, and "look forward to continuing to engage in discussions with Chinese authorities".
The CAC neither provided details on what risks it had found nor what Micron products would be affected.
China announced its review of Micron's products in late March. The company said at the time it was cooperating and that its business operations in China were normal.
The governments of the United States and China are in a dispute about chip technology. Washington has imposed a series of export controls on chipmaking technology to China and moved to prevent Micron rival Yangtze Memory Technologies from buying certain American components.
Micron derives around 10 per cent of its revenue from China, but it is not clear if the decision affects the company's sales to non-Chinese customers in the country.
The larger chunk of Micron's products flowing into China are being purchased by non-Chinese firms for use in products manufactured there, according to analysts.
China in September 2021 imposed rules aimed at protecting critical information infrastructure, which require their operators to comply with stricter requirements around areas such as data security.
Beijing has broadly defined the industries it considers "critical" as ones such as public communication and transport but it has not specified exactly what type of company or business scope this will be applied to.

 

[Hack-Hook]

We have gone thru this before. Huawei make APPLIANCES and by Chinese laws, Huawei is LEGALLY obligated to collect customer data and transmit those data to the Chinese government. Appliances can do this because they are much more complex devices with much more complex s/w than memory modules by any manufacturer.

is they legally obliged to do so outside china? don't think so
and Micron can't say no to NSA or CIA or any other three later organization if they come to them and ask to put a malicious code in their controllers

they also make RAM and SSDs , a malicious code in their controller give them access to all of your data

ere is growing concern about Huawei from governments around the world. So much so, that many have blocked telecoms companies from using Huawei gear in next-generation 5G mobile networks.
How many governments are concerned about Micron's memory modules? Of course, China can always bribe a few African governments to go along with what China claimed.

just like when usa send delegation around the world to convey their concern about huawei systems or you have already forgot that part?

 

[gambit]

is they legally obliged to do so outside china? don't think so

China national intelligence law obligates even Chinese citizens anywhere to work for the Chinese government IF asked.

Article 7: All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.​

and Micron can't say no to NSA or CIA or any other three later organization if they come to them and ask to put a malicious code in their controllers

they also make RAM and SSDs , a malicious code in their controller give them access to all of your data

That is funny because customers perform their own tests to check for any kind of embedded instructions that are not related to functions necessary for what the products advertised to do.

just like when usa send delegation around the world to convey their concern about huawei systems or you have already forgot that part?

Fine. Then when can we expect those governments to post their 'evidences' of Micron's malicious products?

Still straining to make yourself look the fool.

 

[Hack-Hook]

That is funny because customers perform their own tests to check for any kind of embedded instructions that are not related to functions necessary for what the products advertised to do.

and micron is ready to gave source code for those controllers to costumer for test ?
I don't think so

Fine. Then when can we expect those governments to post their 'evidences' of Micron's malicious products?

Still straining to make yourself look the fool.

when usa posted evidence about huawei and zte and ticktok and ......

 

[CIA Mole]

why not ban nvidia as well

 

[gambit]

and micron is ready to gave source code for those controllers to costumer for test ?
I don't think so

Are you sure that those codes are not open source?

We are talking about memory modules. DRAM lose data upon power loss. NAND retains data but that can be retrieved outside of the computer. So for DRAM, malicious s/w will have to reside somewhere else inside the computer in order to resurrect itself upon power to run in memory space.

when usa posted evidence about huawei and zte and ticktok and ......

That is bullshid and you know it. There is literally nothing to prevent China from 'proving' Micron's products are a 'security' threat. There is nothing to prevent the Chinese government from ordering any Chinese semicon company to cook up some documents pointing to where malicious codes resides. What China is doing to Micron is not something that came up just last month out of nowhere. But the reason why China will not force any semicon company to do so is because international shame and mockery will severely damage the reputation of that company.

China bans Micron products after security review

Alleges major risks to national security, but is happy for chips to remain in place

www.theregister.com

Semiconductor industry analyst Dylan Patel suggested the ban is performative.

"Pretty good way to punch back given it is something that scares the crap out of people, but in actuality has very little significance because memory is a commodity and supply chains will adjust in a couple quarters," he wrote on Twitter.​

Basically, Patel said 'bullshid' in polite language. Micron do not need the China market to survive because its products are desired by Tier 1 clients such as Apple, IBM, NASA, Boeing, etc. Micron can manufacture in China and sells outside of China just fine.

But do keep on making a fool out of yourself in an area that you clearly have no experience. At least the PDF Chinese are smarter and bailed the argument.

 

[Hack-Hook]

Are you sure that those codes are not open source?

We are talking about memory modules. DRAM lose data upon power loss. NAND retains data but that can be retrieved outside of the computer. So for DRAM, malicious s/w will have to reside somewhere else inside the computer in order to resurrect itself upon power to run in memory space.

pretty sure the controllers are not open source , look at a memory kit not all of it is DRAM

That is bullshid and you know it. There is literally nothing to prevent China from 'proving' Micron's products are a 'security' threat. There is nothing to prevent the Chinese government from ordering any Chinese semicon company to cook up some documents pointing to where malicious codes resides. What China is doing to Micron is not something that came up just last month out of nowhere. But the reason why China will not force any semicon company to do so is because international shame and mockery will severely damage the reputation of that company.

That is bullshit and you know it. There is literally nothing to prevent USA from 'proving' Hyuawei's products are a 'security' threat. There is nothing to prevent the USA government from ordering any USA semicon company to cook up some documents pointing to where malicious codes resides. What USA is doing to Huawei is not something that came up just last month out of nowhere. But the reason why USA will not force any semicon company to do so is because international shame and mockery will severely damage the reputation of that company.

 

[JSCh]

I can think of a legitimate reason why Micron security vulnerabiliity should not be disclosed publicly.

If it cannot be fixed unless ripped out and replace, then given the no. of devces already in used and near impossiblity to track and replaced and if it has not been known publicly and exploited, then it would be better to keep it secret and replace the existing by upgrading gradually.

If it is revealed publicly, it would be impossible to stop malicious party of using it for exploitation before the vulnerability could be fixed.

 

[gambit]

That is bullshit and you know it. There is literally nothing to prevent USA from 'proving' Hyuawei's products are a 'security' threat. There is nothing to prevent the USA government from ordering any USA semicon company to cook up some documents pointing to where malicious codes resides. What USA is doing to Huawei is not something that came up just last month out of nowhere. But the reason why USA will not force any semicon company to do so is because international shame and mockery will severely damage the reputation of that company.

So the best you can do is copy/paste my words? The Huawei issue is APPLIANCE, not semicon components. Cannot get your own shiddy arguments straight.

 

[gambit]

I can think of a legitimate reason why Micron security vulnerabiliity should not be disclosed publicly.

If it cannot be fixed unless ripped out and replace, then given the no. of devces already in used and near impossiblity to track and replaced and if it has not been known publicly and exploited, then it would be better to keep it secret and replace the existing by upgrading gradually.

If it is revealed publicly, it would be impossible to stop malicious party of using it for exploitation before the vulnerability could be fixed.

Then what is the point of publishing this alleged 'network security risk' in the first place?

Micron's core products are memory which is several degrees away from anything relating to networking. A memory module is a component used by an OS and other electronics components. Stuxnet was released AFTER Iran already used certain devices from Siemens. Stuxnet infects a computer, search for a specific model of programmable logic controllers (PLC), then does its job. If a computer is not connected to that specific PLC, nothing happens.

China cannot even used Stuxnet as an example to justify a technical reason to ban sales of Micron products to Chinese companies because that would rightly take attention away from the hardware (memory modules) and towards s/w, which is nowhere to be found. Instead, China vaguely referred to 'network security' issues. WTF does that even mean? The PHYSICAL structures of DRAM, NAND, NOR, SRAM, ROM, etc, are well known. The only difference is how each company make them. All China has to do is point to where Micron's products are different, compare to Chinese versions, that would make Micron's products attractive to malicious actors. If China want to use Micron to retaliate for Huawei et al, then just say so. But please, PDF Chinese and China supporters should stop being creative in coming up with reasons for China. You guys have no experience in semicon and are just making yourselves, and China, looking foolish.

 

[TriptiD]

why not ban nvidia as well

That made me laugh. The Chinese WISH they could ban Nvidia sales in China, but the US government already beat them to it - at least for the high performing AI chips that China wants.

 

[theBill]

"Now it's chips, later it will be rare earths, raw materials... This is going to continue."
https://www.reuters.com/technology/...ers-dilemma-sino-us-tensions-grow-2023-05-22/

 

[JSCh]

Then what is the point of publishing this alleged 'network security risk' in the first place?

To replace onward all critical network infrastructure system with risk free component of course.

FYI, China did not ban Micron for selling its product in China, it ban system integrator from buying or using Micron component or system in certain critical area.

"Now it's chips, later it will be rare earths, raw materials... This is going to continue."
https://www.reuters.com/technology/...ers-dilemma-sino-us-tensions-grow-2023-05-22/

So basically, things that China want to buy, US ban it.

But for things that China don't want to buy, US want to force it onto China.

why such contradictory behaviour? A bit suspicious, wouldn't u say?

 

[gambit]

To replace onward all critical network infrastructure system with risk free component of course.

FYI, China did not ban Micron for selling its product in China, it ban system integrator from buying or using Micron component or system in certain critical area.

The car is an appliance. The tire is a component inside that appliance. That is like punishing specifically Goodyear when the car was used in a bank robbery when there is no credible technical evidence that the brand Goodyear make bank robberies any easier if the robbers used another brand of tires (or tyres).

If China want to retaliate against the US and use an American company, in this case Micron in the semicon industry, just say so. Whether US was fair or not with Huawei is not the point. If anything, assume for now that the Huawei situation was unfair and incredible to start, China would have a better image if there are credible technical evidences against Micron available. The Chinese government have absolute control over the Chinese semicon companies and could have ordered them to come up with anything technically sounding as a cover far superior to the American reasons against Huawei. But there are none against Micron, never could be, and China knows it.

 

[Paji]

Looks like the Chinese might have shot themselves in the foot

Korea reportedly won't encourage memory suppliers to gain market share in China amid ban on Micron

Despite a ban on Micron by the Chinese government seen as benefiting Micron's competitors based in South Korea, it is reported that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix may decide not to fill the void and walk a fine line between China and the US.

www.digitimes.com