By Jane Lanhee Lee, Josh Horwitz and Alexandra Alper
OAKLAND, Calif./SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China’s largest chip maker SMIC is ramping up production of a decade-old chip technology, key to many industries’ supply chains, setting off alarm bells in the United States and prompting some lawmakers to try to stop them.
The United States and allied nations could further step up restrictions if China announces a trillion yuan ($144 billion) support package for its chip industry, as Reuters exclusively reported on Tuesday, said TechInsights’ chip economist Dan Hutcheson.
Starting with the Trump administration, the United States has been tightening the noose around China’s high-tech ambitions. It cut off the world’s largest telecommunications firm Huawei Technologies from the U.S. market and technologies, as well as cut off air supply to China’s advanced chip making…
