In late September this year, in the name of coping with the global chip crisis, the U.S. Department of Commerce strongly requested more than 20 chip related enterprises, including TSMC and Samsung, to provide trade secret data. The deadline is November 8. Now the deadline is approaching. After a number of enterprises have expressed compromise and cooperation, recently, Samsung also sent a soft signal. The US Department of Commerce "blackmailed" confidential data from a number of chip related enterprises With the deadline of November 8 approaching, Samsung finally couldn't hold on. According to South Korean media reports, on November 3, South Korean enterprise Samsung said it would submit business data to the United States for review on time. In fact, Samsung had been in a dilemma for more than a month before this decision. At the beginning, the US request triggered strong dissatisfaction from the South Korean side. On October 13, the South Korean ambassador to the United States made it clear that South Korean enterprises would not easily provide highly confidential information. At the same time, the South Korean government also conveyed the concerns of South Korean enterprises to the United States. However, in the face of South Korea's euphemistic refusal, U.S. Commerce Secretary Raymond directly made threatening remarks. During this period, the attitude of TSMC, another semiconductor giant, also wavered. On September 30 and October 6, TSMC twice stressed that "they will not disclose sensitive information". However, on October 22, TSMC conceded and compromised, saying that it would hand over the data on time. Just three days later, TSMC's attitude was tough again, saying that it would not "completely submit data" as required by the United States. Up to now, TSMC has not compromised. According to the requirements of the U.S. Department of Commerce on September 23, more than 20 enterprises need to submit data, including chip manufacturers such as Samsung, TSMC and Intel, technology companies such as apple and Microsoft, as well as automobile manufacturers such as Daimler, BMW, GM and Ford. Bai Ming, deputy director of the International Market Research Institute of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce: because many enterprises have a close relationship with the United States and some of the technologies used are also American, they have to compromise. The United States requires enterprises to submit data within 45 days. Although the request is voluntary, the U.S. Department of commerce also issued a warning that if they do not respond to the U.S. request, the U.S. government will invoke the national defense production act or other laws to take coercive measures. Wu Changhai, Professor of China University of political science and Law: the scope of application of the national defense production law is an enterprise produced in the United States. If the enterprise is not in the United States, it is a kind of data extortion. According to various sources, up to now, no enterprises in the list have publicly indicated that they completely refuse to provide data to the United States. American chip industry is gradually moving towards "hollowing out" What is the reason for the United States to carry out "data blackmail" even if it violates the business rules of fair competition? Recently, the U.S. automobile manufacturing industry has greatly reduced production, and the economic recovery has fallen into a downturn. What is the connection between these phenomena and the recent "data blackmail" in the United States? At the end of September, six factories of General Motors in the United States stopped production, Ford also announced production restrictions on some models, and many workers are facing unemployment. The long-standing global chip shortage has forced many U.S. auto companies and other manufacturing industries to cut production capacity. In August this year, the sales volume of new cars by dealers in the United States was less than 1 million, a decrease of 72% compared with 3.58 million in August 2019. The downturn in the auto industry has worsened the US economic recovery. Data show that in the third quarter of this year, the US GDP grew by only 2%, the weakest growth in 11 months. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina ramondo once said that in the world's most advanced semiconductor production, the proportion made in the United States is zero. This remark is not too pessimistic. In recent years, new breakthroughs have been made in the global chip manufacturing process. This year, Samsung has taken the lead in completing the trial production of the world's first 3-nanometer chip, while TSMC is domineering. The official announced that it has broken through the 2-nanometer chip technology and plans to mass produce in 2024. American companies are still studying chips with 10 nm and 7 nm manufacturing processes. Zhang Chao, a researcher at Taihe think tank, said that only from the perspective of chip manufacturing, there should be a gap of about 10 years between American enterprises and TSMC and Samsung. Data show that in the foundry market, TSMC, the world's largest chip foundry, has a market share of 54%, while Samsung's market share is as high as 18%. At the same time, the share of chips made in the United States is decreasing. Under the background of "chip shortage", many related enterprises are adding orders for automobile chips to TSMC. This situation makes the chip manufacturing industry, which is inclined to Asia, even more unbalanced. The United States re examines the local chip industry chain The continuous "core shortage tide" has led countries to re-examine the local chip industry chain. Repairing the supply chain and regaining the dominance of chips is one of the most concerned issues in the United States. US President Biden: chip, like this one in my hand. These chips, wafers, our batteries and broadband are the basis of everything. Although chips are extremely important, the U.S. government also found that it can not solve the supply chain problem in a short time. On June 8, the Biden government announced the establishment of a new supply chain interruption working group to meet the supply chain challenges. In recent years, the US government has frequently extended its hand in the global semiconductor field. From banning all enterprises using American technology from providing chips to China, to now asking for trade secret data from more than 20 chip related enterprises around the world. The information and data requested from enterprises in the United States mainly include: order shipment, inventory, customer information, process nodes, etc. of enterprises in the past three years. List items in great detail, with a list of 26 questions. Zhang Chao, a researcher at Taihe think tank, said that having these data is equivalent to knowing each other's cards. For non-U.S. enterprises, it will be a "streaking" state in any business negotiation in the future. What worries these enterprises most is that the U.S. government may hand over the information obtained to U.S. enterprises, especially Intel and other companies. Behind the chip dispute, the power of capital is difficult to ignore. According to TSMC's 2020 financial report, among the top ten shareholders, there are up to eight foreign shareholders, and overseas Chinese investment accounts for 75.8%. The first shareholder is Citigroup's special account for TSMC depositary receipts, with a shareholding ratio of 20.52%. Samsung has always been the most proud enterprise of South Koreans. About 44% of the shares of Samsung Electronics are held by American investment institutions, especially financial institutions such as Wall Street, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. In recent years, the United States has also continuously attracted Samsung and TSMC to set up factories in the United States to produce chips through high subsidy policies. Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the academic committee of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce of China: the United States urgently hopes to reflect the control of the United States in the high-tech field through the return and recovery of the semiconductor industry in the United States and its expansion. (Xinhua News Agency)