China bans some Micron products for failing safety inspections

BEIJING: China’s cyberspace regulator said on Sunday that a product made by US memory chip maker Micron Technology had failed a network security review, banning major infrastructure operators from sourcing from the company. .

The China Cyberspace Administration (CAC) said in a statement, “Our investigation has found that Micron products have serious network security risks. This poses serious security risks to China’s critical information infrastructure supply chain. will affect China’s national security,” he said.

Operators of critical information infrastructure should stop sourcing from Micron, the CAC added. According to China’s broad definition of critical information infrastructure, this could include areas ranging from transportation to finance.

Micron did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China announced a review of Micron’s products in late March, but the company said at the time that it was cooperating with the review and that business operations in the country were normal.

The review and decision against Micron comes amid a dispute over chip technology between the United States and China, during which the United States has been blacklisted by China and Micron’s rival Yangtze River Memory Technologies. It imposes a series of export controls on chip-making technology on Chinese companies.

The CAC did not provide details on what risks were discovered or which Micron products this would affect.

About 10% of Micron’s revenue comes from China, but it’s unclear if the decision will affect the company’s sales to non-Chinese customers there.

Analysts say most of the company’s products entering China are bought by companies outside China for use in products they manufacture there.

In September 2021, China imposed rules aimed at protecting critical information infrastructure, requiring carriers to comply with stricter requirements in areas such as data security.

The Chinese government has broadly defined industries it considers “important” to include public telecommunications and transportation, but has not specified what types of companies or scope of business this applies to.