Biden crows about chips bill, says Xi ‘concerned’

President Joe Biden said China’s leader had expressed worries about the US strengthening its domestic production of semiconductor chips as his administration moves to reduce reliance on Asian suppliers and restrict Chinese access to chipmaking technology.

“I’ve heard from Xi Jinping that he’s a little concerned about that,” Biden said Thursday in Syracuse, New York, as he delivered a speech touting job growth and his economic agenda ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

Biden hailed the bipartisan Chips and Science Act, which he signed into law in August, and said it would help the US “out-compete the rest of the world” in chipmaking. The president spoke at a Micron Technology Inc. site, where the company plans to invest $100 billion to bolster chip manufacturing, an investment Biden said was spurred by the measure.

“Because of the new law I signed and Chuck designed and delivered, we’re turning things way around,” said Biden, who was joined by New York lawmakers and officials, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Biden said Micron’s investment alone would “increase America’s share of global memory chips and production by 500%.”

The semiconductor subsidy bill is intended to make the US less dependent on Asian chipmaking giants. Yet the measure has spurred concerns abroad, including among American allies such as South Korea and Japan, about the impact on their companies.

The US Commerce Department also unveiled sweeping regulations on October 7, intending to curb the sale of advanced semiconductors and equipment to China and banning Americans from helping with the country’s development of chip technologies. The moves strike at the very foundation of China’s efforts to build its own cutting-edge chips.

China’s embassy hit back against the recent US economic measures aimed at curbing Beijing’s access to advanced technology. Speaking in an online briefing on Thursday, before Biden’s remarks, senior Chinese diplomat Wang Hongxia criticized the new chip rules as an “abuse of export control measures,” and accused the Biden administration of a “politicized and weaponized” approach to normal economic and business cooperation.

“These negative measures have brought huge losses to businesses and consumers in both countries,” said Wang, who is a counselor in the embassy’s office of economic and commercial affairs. “Once the Chinese market is lost, it will be hard to regain.”

—Bloomberg