The leading association of global chip companies is warning that Huawei Technologies Co. is building a collection of secret semiconductor-fabrication facilities across China, a shadow manufacturing network that would let the blacklisted company skirt US sanctions and further the nation’s technology ambitions.
Huawei, a controversial telecommunications gear maker at the heart of US-China tensions, moved into chip production last year and is receiving an estimated $30 billion in state funding from the government and its home town of Shenzhen, according to the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association. It’s acquired at least two existing plants and is building at least three others, the group said in a presentation to its members seen by Bloomberg.