A source told Reuters that on Monday, top leaders from U.S. chip companies will meet with Biden administration officials to talk about China policy as the U.S. considers new restrictions.
The source said that government officials meeting with Intel (INTC.O), Qualcomm (QCOM.O), and Nvidia (NVDA.O) on Monday include Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, and National Security Council Director Jake Sullivan.
Earlier on Monday, the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) asked the Biden administration to “refrain from further restrictions” on chip sales to China and to let “the industry continue to have access to the China market, the world’s largest commercial market for commodity semiconductors.”
The Biden administration is thinking about changing a big set of rules that were put in place in October to hurt China’s chip industry and making a new executive order that limits some outbound investment.
In answer to SIA, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said, “Our actions have been carefully planned to focus on technology that affects national security and to make sure that U.S. and allied technologies are not used to hurt our national security.”
A person who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that not every official is expected to meet with every company.
Two people who know about the situation told Reuters on Friday that the CEOs of Intel and Qualcomm were going to go to Washington this week.
Both the Commerce Department and the White House said they had nothing to say about any possible talks.
China has recently taken steps to limit the sale of raw materials used to make chips, like gallium and germanium.
The industry group said that if the U.S. continues to tighten its rules, it could “disrupt supply chains, cause significant market uncertainty, and lead China to continue escalating retaliation.”
The group said it wants the administration to stop putting restrictions in place until it talks with industry and experts more about the effects of current and potential restrictions to see if they are narrow and clearly defined, applied consistently, and fully coordinated with allies.
Raimondo is in charge of a $39 billion subsidy program for the semiconductor industry that was passed by Congress last year. A 25% investment tax credit for building chip plants, which is expected to be worth $24 billion, was also created by the law.
David Shepardson and Andrea Shalal in Washington and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco did the reporting for this article. Susan Heavey and Matthew Lewis worked on the editing.
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