Top China chipmakers SMIC and CXMT push to scrap foreign inputs

TAIPEI/BEIJING -- China's top chipmakers are pushing hard to localize the supply of key chip materials and chemicals to counter U.S. export controls, sources with direct knowledge of these efforts told Nikkei Asia.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., the country's top contract chipmaker, is asking its customers -- namely chip developers who use its production services -- to help it screen, verify and adopt local suppliers of wafers, chemicals, gasses and other materials in the production processes of their chips. The move has been picking up speed since last year.