China remains crucial for U.S. chipmakers amid rising tensions between the world's top two economies

China remains an essential market for most American chipmakers despite Washington's efforts to restrict chip sales to the country and amid Beijing's push for self sufficiency in the semiconductor sector. 

Data from S&P Global showed that U.S. chip giants Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm and Marvell Technology all generate more revenue from China compared with the U.S. 

The U.S. has passed a series of export controls starting in October 2022 aimed at restricting China's access to advanced chip technology, particularly those used in AI applications.

"China remains an important market for U.S. chipmakers, and the U.S. restrictions on selling advanced AI chips to China have been designed specifically to allow most U.S. firms to continue selling most types of chips to Chinese customers," Chris Miller, author of "Chip War," told CNBC.

Used in a wide range of products, from smartphones to electric vehicles, semiconductors have become a top priority for governments globally. 

According to data from tech consultancy Omdia, China consumes nearly 50% of the world's semiconductors as it is the biggest market for assembling consumer devices. 

U.S. chipmakers, which enjoy technological leadership over Chinese competitors, have been able to tap this demand as the U.S. export curbs are focused on some very specific products.

"There are still plenty of 'high end' chips with all types of allowable use cases that are good to go where U.S. based chip companies have the dominant, leading edge," said William B. Bailey, lead technology, media, and telecommunications analyst at Nasdaq IR Intelligence.

U.S. chipmakers, even those with a majority of business in the U.S., such as Micron Technology, AMD, and Nvidia, have strived to serve their Chinese clients