China grows closer to US chipmaker Micron as Washington tensions decrease

 China grows closer to US chipmaker Micron as Washington tensions decrease

According to a brief statement posted on the commerce ministry's website on Friday, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao assured Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO of Micron Technology, during a meeting on November 1 that China would maximize the environment for foreign investment and offer service guarantees for foreign businesses.

Beijing would welcome the American semiconductor manufacturer expanding its market share in China, the Chinese minister of commerce informed the president of Micron Technology Inc., signaling a further warming of ties between the two largest economies in the world.

According to a brief statement posted on the commerce ministry's website on Friday, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao assured Sanjay Mehrotra, President and CEO of Micron Technology, during a meeting on November 1 that China would maximize the environment for foreign investment and offer service guarantees for foreign businesses.

"We welcome Micron Technology, Inc to continue to take root in the Chinese market with the goal of better development under the assumption to complying with Chinese laws and regulations," Wang said.

The rapprochement transpires in the aftermath of Micron's failure to pass a network security evaluation, as reported by China's cyberspace authority, which also prohibited Chinese operators of critical infrastructure from purchasing memory chips from the U.S. manufacturer.

Many saw China's action against Micron as payback for Washington's attempts to deny Beijing access to important technologies. It happened only one day after the wealthy countries of the Group of Seven (G7) decided to "de-risk, not decouple" from China, and as Washington put pressure on its allies to follow suit in limiting the shipment of semiconductor equipment to China.

Wang and Mehrotra's meeting on Wednesday coincides with a recent defusing of tensions between Beijing and Washington as representatives from both nations try to set up a meeting between US President Joe Biden along with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the forthcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco later this month.