News on January 30, according to Reuters, a spokesman for Teradyne, a major semiconductor test equipment manufacturer, said on Monday local time that Teradyne has withdrawn about $1 billion worth of manufacturing operations from Chinese mainland in 2023 after the U.S. export restriction policy caused the disruption of part of its ** chain.
In October 2022, after the United States issued a semiconductor export restriction policy to China, not only the export of related semiconductor equipment to China was restricted, but also the export of some parts and components needed to manufacture semiconductor equipment to China was also affected.
Teradyne previously said in its 2022 annual report that "the new restrictions of the U.S. Department of Commerce have restricted Teradyne's semiconductor equipment sales to certain companies in China, while several multinational companies that produce these advanced semiconductors in Chinese mainland (Samsung, SK hynix, TSMC, etc.) have been granted one-year licenses allowing Teradyne and other *** companies to continue to provide equipment for facilities operated by these companies." We anticipate that other companies that produce advanced semiconductors in mainland China will not be licensed, limiting Teradyne's ability to provide test equipment to facilities operated by these unlicensed companies. The Company is also evaluating the submission of license applications to sell and support certain end-uses to certain customers in China, which, if approved, may reduce the impact of these restrictions on the Company's business. ”
It should be noted that some of Teradyne's equipment is manufactured in Chinese mainland. Reuters reported that Flex's factory in Suzhou, China, is the main manufacturing base for Teradyne's semiconductor test equipment. This also limited the plant's ability to obtain some of the U.S.-sourced parts needed to manufacture Teradyne's equipment.
On Friday, Brian Amero, Teradyne's director of global compliance and ethics, said at a session titled "China Balancing Act: Complying with Export Controls While Staying Sane" during the annual export expo at the Massachusetts Export Center: "Despite Teradyne's license (in October 2023, Teradyne noted in its third-quarter earnings report that Teradyne mitigated the impact of these restrictions on its business by obtaining a license from the U.S. Department of Commerce), And when the U.S. updated its rules in October 2023, it made exceptions for wafer manufacturing back-end test equipment. However, some ** merchants still do not ship to Teradyne's factories in China, which has led to the disruption of their ** chain.
We manufacture in China, so we must obtain emergency authorization to continue this activity. We thought it was too risky, so we moved our manufacturing operations out of China and it was expensive. Brian Amero explains.
In November 2023, at Teradyne's China ** conference, Felix Huang, general manager of Teradyne China, told Xin Zhixun that Teradyne equipment is a back-end manufacturing equipment and is not restricted in the United States, and Teradyne has been rooted in China for 23 years, and most of the parts have been non-American**, and the proportion of American** in domestic sales of equipment has been less than 3%.
For the latest report from Reuters, Felix Huang exclusively responded to Xinzhixun this afternoon, "This is actually the old news last year, because the proportion of imported parts assembled in the United States is higher than the proportion of the United States that directly imports the whole machine, for the sake of chain security, we have transferred the assembly plant from Suzhou to Malaysia." As a result, we are able to maintain less than 3% of our equipment in the U.S.**, ensuring that we can sell to the majority of our customers. Shifting production to Southeast Asia is also a common practice for many companies today (e.g. Advantest). ”
Xinzhixun Note: If you directly import the American parts required by Teradyne to manufacture its equipment in China, then the proportion of technology ** from the United States in the parts must be very high, so the import of this part into China may be restricted, which will inevitably lead to the equipment manufacturing of Teradyne's factory in China will also be affected. In contrast, if Teradyne's equipment is manufactured in Malaysia, local imported American parts will not be affected, and the proportion of American technology** in the assembled complete equipment can be less than 3%, then the sales of this equipment to China will not be affected, and it can be better delivered to Chinese customers. ）
Felix Huang emphasized, "Our business and support manpower in China continues to grow, and China is our most important market, and we will not give up. ”
Previous related article: "Rooted in China for 23 years, the proportion of the United States has dropped to 3%!" How does Teradyne help improve the yield of domestic chips? >> Editor: Xinzhixun-Rogue Sword.