U.S. House of Representatives China Committee summons top executives from Intel, Nvidia and Micron to testify

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The House China Committee has asked the chief executives of U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to testify before Congress as it ramps up scrutiny of companies with interests in China.

The commission sent letters this week to Intel, Nvidia and Micron, subpoenaing their chief executives to testify, according to people familiar with the situation.

The move is a reversal by the commission, which has not held a hearing with any industry CEO since it was created to strengthen Congress’ focus on the threat from China.

Emily Kilcrease, a trade and sanctions expert at think tank CNAS, said the commission was “using its bullish pulpit to increase political pressure on companies with significant operations and sales in China”. Stated.

According to people familiar with the matter, the CEOs of Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm have been working on a bipartisan committee since last year, when the CEOs of Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm approached President Joe Biden’s administration, which was preparing to tighten export controls related to semiconductors. The committee is said to have become increasingly enthusiastic about testimony from semiconductor manufacturers.

Intel, Nvidia and Micron all declined to comment on the letter sent Thursday.

“This hearing is an important part of the committee’s oversight of semiconductor companies and their relationships with China, particularly since Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm came to Washington last summer and actively sought to block additional semiconductor regulations. It is a continuation of the current situation,” the official said. Deciding to send a letter.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger and two of his colleagues, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, visited the White House last July to strengthen export controls for cutting-edge semiconductors. Plans to do long-term damage to US industry. All three chipmakers derive a significant portion of their annual revenue from sales to China.

Huang told the Financial Times last year that a U.S.-China chip war would cause “tremendous” damage to the U.S. technology industry. Semiconductor export restrictions have left Nvidia with its hands tied behind its back.

In October, the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips to China, closing a loophole exploited by Nvidia after the first export ban in October 2022. The move comes weeks before President Biden meets with his Chinese counterpart. Xi Jinping in San Francisco.

Micron has not received similar oversight from U.S. lawmakers. That’s largely because the Idaho-based chipmaker doesn’t produce the same type of cutting-edge semiconductors as Intel and Nvidia, which have potential military applications that have raised concerns in Washington.

But lawmakers said they want to hear about the problems Micron faces doing business in China. Last year, the Chinese government banned some domestic groups from purchasing Micron chips, a move widely seen in the United States as retaliation for the Biden administration’s efforts to block access to cutting-edge American technology from China. .

In recent months, Republican Chairman Mike Gallagher and his committee have stepped up scrutiny of U.S. companies investing and doing business in China, including BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. The committee also met privately with other CEOs, including Apple’s Tim Cook, and executives from Hollywood, Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

The decision to call CEOs to testify comes as U.S. groups with interests in China are increasingly nervous about drawing attention from Congress, especially as China is expected to be a focus of the 2024 presidential election. It will be.

“These letters highlight the decoupling of technology supply chains as the committee intensifies its attacks on some of America’s largest and most important semiconductor companies, after focusing on private equity and investors in China. It shows a similar determination to push forward,” Mr Kilcrease said.