China chipmakers speed up effort to cut reliance on US supplies

TAIPEI -- China's top chipmakers are speeding up efforts to reduce their use of U.S semiconductor equipment as fears mount that Washington will impose further curbs on their operations as part of a tech war, people with knowledge of the plans told the Nikkei Asian Review.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the country's top contract chipmaker better known as SMIC, and Yangtze Memory Technologies, China's first 3D NAND flash memory maker, are among the companies setting ambitious goals to test homegrown and non-U.S. equipment in their production lines. Several state-backed chipmakers are doing likewise, multiple people familiar with the plans told the Nikkei Asian Review.