Beijing Demands Sales Data From US Chipmakers in Anti-Dumping Probe

The Chinese regime has ordered businesses to submit sensitive sales data in an anti-dumping probe on imports of U.S.-originated analog chips that are used in a wide range of consumer and industrial electronics, including phones, computers, cars, and medical equipment.

In questionnaires published on Oct. 22, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau requested traders of certain U.S. analog chips to provide detailed information, including on company structure, production capacity, product specifications, costs and expenses, sales data, transaction details, and prices in China and in their home country.

Other questions request details on their suppliers, subcontractors, and buyers.

Companies required to provide the information include producers of the chips, foreign companies that export them to China, and Chinese importers of the products.

The bureau did not specify which companies are expected to cooperate with the probe. The Jiangsu Semiconductor Industry Association (JSSIA), whose July 23 complaint triggered the anti-dumping investigation, named four U.S. chipmakers, including Texas Instruments, Massachusetts-based Analog Devices, California-based Broadcom, and Arizona-based ON Semiconductor, JSSIA’s application shows.

The companies did not respond to requests for comment.

JSSIA also named a number of importers in China, but the information was redacted in the published version of the application.

Companies are given 37 days to complete the questionnaires.

The investigation was launched on Sept. 13, a day before U.S. and Chinese officials met in Madrid for their fourth round of in-person trade talks. If the regime’s Ministry of Commerce decides that the products were sold at less than fair value, it could impose anti-dumping duties on the products.

The publication of the questionnaires came as U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are heading to Malaysia for a fifth round of in-person trade talks with their Chinese counterparts amid ongoing trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, which often focus on semiconductors and rare earths.

In September and October, the Chinese regime’s market regulator expanded its antitrust probe into Nvidia and launched another against Qualcomm.

Earlier in October, Beijing also expanded export controls on rare earths, banning foreign defense and semiconductor companies from accessing them.

In response, U.S. President Donald Trump announced additional 100 percent tariffs on Chinese goods and export controls on critical software that will take effect on Nov. 1.

On Oct. 22, Greer said Beijing’s new rare-earth restrictions are “totally disproportional to anything that the U.S., the [European Union], or Canada or anybody did,” and that it is Beijing’s responsibility to de-escalate.

Catherine Yang contributed to this report.