Yin Zhiyao, founder of Shanghai AMEC, renounces US citizenship and resumes Chinese citizenship
The United States implemented export restrictions on chip technology in October 2022, and also banned American technology and talents from participating in China's advanced semiconductor process development to prevent American chip technology from promoting China's military development. Yin Zhiyao, founder of Chinese semiconductor equipment manufacturer Shanghai AMEC, decided to give up his American citizenship.
The South China Morning Post reported that according to the annual report released by Shanghai AMEC on Friday (18th), the founder, chairman and CEO Yin Zhiyao has given up his American citizenship and restored his Chinese citizenship.
Yin Zhiyao is a veteran in the semiconductor industry and has worked for Applied Materials, Lam Research and Intel. In AMEC's 2022, 2021 and 2020 annual reports, he was identified as a US citizen, but the 2023 annual report did not disclose Yin Zhiyao's nationality.
The report believes that the change of nationality by Yin Zhiyao, 81, is the latest sign of the growing differentiation of the US-China semiconductor supply chain against the backdrop of the escalating technological war between the world's two largest economies.
In fact, as early as October 2022, when the U.S. Department of Commerce introduced the chip ban, it had already implemented a series of export controls on chips and related production technologies, including restrictions on the flow of people, prohibiting U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and people living in the United States from supporting the research and development of China's advanced process chips without permission. This regulation puts relevant people in a dilemma of keeping their jobs or keeping their U.S. citizenship.
Last year, two American executives of AMEC, Ni Tuqiang and Yang Wei, resigned from their positions as "core technical personnel." At the time, AMEC claimed that their departure would not have a significant adverse impact on the company's R&D progress, operational capabilities, or competitiveness.