, the U.S. Commerce Department is widening its investigation against Applied Materials, the largest U.S. company involved in the creation of equipment and software used in the fabrication of semiconductor chips. The company said that it received a subpoena from the Commerce Department in May. Back in February, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts issued subpoenas to the company.
The investigation claims that Applied Materials was able to avoid U.S. export restrictions on cutting-edge chip manufacturing equipment and shipped such gear to SMIC, China's largest foundry. Applied Materials also ships chip-making equipment to the world's top two leading foundries, TSMC, and Samsung Foundry. Despite this, 43% of its revenue came from China in Q2.
SMIC reportedly bought equipment made by Applied Materials before the U.S. sanctions to help SMIC make the Kirin 9000s 5G Despite not being able to procure an extreme ultraviolet lithography machine needed to etch circuitry patterns on silicon wafers for 5nm chips,Reports earlier this year said that SMIC was able to build a 5G chip for Huawei last year thanks to equipment purchased from U.S. firms Applied Materials and Lam Research before the U.S. sanctions took effect after 2020. The U.S.