back to article China's YMTC scrounges for billions to help bypass US sanctions

China's YMTC is being forced by US sanctions to raise fresh capital, as lawmakers continue to press for tougher action against Beijing, including restrictions on the RISC-V instruction set architecture. The Chip Wars continue apace, with reports that YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies Co), China's largest memory chip maker, has …

  1. StrangerHereMyself Silver badge

    License

    What the U.S. actually wants is that RISC-V becomes a licensed product which is beholden to U.S. export rules. And they'll go far to make this a reality, including prosecution of the RISC-V board members for conspiring with a foreign adversary if need be.

    Calista is actually a U.S. citizen which makes her even more vulnerable to intimidation and arrest.

    1. martinusher Silver badge

      Re: License

      I'm a bit puzzled how US lawmakers could attempt to control an idea. They all swear fealty to our Constitution which means they should be up to speed on the notion of "abstract idea" as against "concrete reality". But I suppose just as those individuals confuse something like "The Office of the President" with "King, Dictator and/or Fuhrer" its really easy for them to assume that the idea of RISC-V is some concrete reality which can be controlled and sanctioned.

      This isn't a new problem. There's a very good reason why encryption standards are "anything but American" -- its not that American's aren't involved in their development but the standards have to be based outside the US to prevent "US lawmakers" from trying to control them and so both inconveniencing everyone and messing them up.

      Just imagine the amount of brain power and effort that goes into devising ever more searching sanctions and involved ways to implement them. If we devoted this intellectual effort to actually developing product then we might stand a chance of remaining competitive. But I suppose this is what we get for churning out an endless supply of lawyers rather than some engineers.

      1. StrangerHereMyself Silver badge

        Re: License

        By twisting the rules somewhat and threatening to incarcerate people you can get a long way, believe me.

        Calista doesn't want to spend months in jail waiting for her trial and taking her chances with the U.S. judicial system. Chances are good she'll be acquitted, but that's by no means a certainty. Would you want to take that risk? Didn't think so.

        And RISC-V isn't an "idea", it's IP which is freely being given away. But that IP could also be licensed and when it's licensed it's subject to export rules.

        1. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
          Black Helicopters

          Re: License

          Calista doesn't want to spend months in jail waiting for her trial and taking her chances with the U.S. judicial system

          Maybe she'll choose to be a martyr to the cause. Or perhaps she'll just set up bed in RISC-V's Switzerland board room and wait for the extradition request to come in, laugh along with the rest of us at whatever ludicrous grounds America offers to support that.

          But even sending her to Guantanamo and water-boarding her day in and day out won't sop RISC-V being a thing.

          America increasingly seems to be more than one sandwich short of a picnic.

          1. StrangerHereMyself Silver badge

            Re: License

            America has its problems, but is still very much a freedom loving nation. Look at what's happening to Britain, which is slowly but surely turning into the nation that was portrayed in the movie "V for Vendetta."

            If the U.S. wants your ass there's no place on Earth where you can hide, save for some very dodgy nations. I doubt Calista and the other board members will want to take on the U.S. government.

      2. very angry man

        Re: License

        Amerkins are really good at messing up idea's, look what they did with freedom? Equality? truth? Justice was never in this list, in amerkier you get what you pay for.

        I could go on but you get the idea

      3. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: License @martinusher

        Quite so. Well said, Sir/martinusher.

        Have another upvote for that slice of unadulterated unedited uncorrupted reality which Uncle Sam and its Western and NATO allies appear determined to support until death do part them from their nonsense and their empires crumble into the wasted lands of ideas from which they emerged to temporarily prosper and deceive all that is perceived.

        And that be a hell-bent journey rather than heaven-sent destination. Does shit for brains explain their dilemma and problems? Or is heavy psychosis inducing substance abuse a prime mover in such instances/published situations? :-) Does the latter render the former ...... and vice versa?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Controlled burn

    Since nobody has posted the usual "sanctions-don't-work" comment yet, let me put my pro-Chinese commentard cap on...

    "All the USA will manage to achieve is that China will develop hyper-super-duper powerful RISC-V chips that will be 10 times better than US ones. In the next 3 years. Or less."

    OK. Job done. Easy.

  3. DS999 Silver badge

    It is open technology

    They would have equal lack of success trying to prevent China from dominating in Linux.

  4. EricB123 Silver badge

    The Solution Is...

    Just ban the export of anything "transistorized".

    There, problem solved.

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