Chip wars fallout

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

The U.S. is trying to ease supply chain disruptions from its new export curbs, after the Biden administration granted South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix Inc a one-year waiver to use American chip equipment in China, allowing the company to keep its production lines in the country.

• A list of Chinese Americans playing significant roles in the Chinese semiconductor industry, who are now caught in the middle of the new U.S. chip rules on China, was circulating on Chinese social media (and has now been removed), Pekingnology’s Zichen Wang reports on Twitter.

Taipei assuaged fears over its chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in case of a Chinese invasion, following reports from Bloomberg of contingency plans that include blowing up its facilities or evacuating its engineers to the U.S.

• “If you understand the ecosystem of TSMC, the comments out there are unrealistic,” said Chen Ming-tong (陳明通 Chén Míngtōng), the director-general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau. “TSMC needs to integrate global elements before producing high-end chips. Without components or equipment like ASML’s lithography equipment, without any key components, there is no way TSMC can continue its production.”
• Mark Liu (劉德音 Liú Déyīn), the chair of TSMC, said similar things during a brief interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria (part 1, part 2) in late July: essentially that if China invaded, it could not operate TSMC without the participation of the U.S. and other international partners.

Up close and personal with China’s ballsy ballistic missiles: Beijing has allowed a rare and intimate peek at the nation’s most advanced homegrown weapons as part of an exhibit today in Beijing. Included in the display were the Dongfeng-41 and Dongfeng-17 ballistic missiles, which are from the same series as those fired during its live-fire drills surrounding Taiwan in August.

Rumors of a water shortage in Shanghai sparked panic-buying of bottled water over recent days, despite assurances from local authorities that supplies are stable amid drought-induced saltwater intrusions into its river.

ADRs — Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. — are down by 34.27% so far this year. It has been a similar tale of woe for China stocks in all the markets this year: The Shanghai Composite has lost 16.87% this year so far, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises index has slumped to its lowest level since the global financial crisis. See today’s Business briefs from the Chinese media, with more links and info on:

• New stats: More than a quarter of cars sold in China are electric.
• Shanghai’s plan to seize the “future highlands of frontier industries.”
• L’Oréal’s “smart operational center” at its factory in Jiangsu Province.

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