ST CEO Jean-Marc Chery said China “is about 30 per cent of our total revenue, and this is the market we do not want to escape, we want to continue to support. We just want the world to provide us stability. We can adapt to changes, but if we are changing every six months, it is difficult.”
Chery pointed out that having two separate semiconductor supply chains – “China for China and West for West” – is expensive, adding: “So, congratulations to the new U.S. president.”
Kurt Sievers, CEO of NXP, said no country’s chip industry could be either independent or dominant adding: “If it was possible, it would become so expensive that no consumer could afford any device which uses chips. And I’m sure every government over time will understand it.”
Sievers told the FT that NXP’s American employees had been advised to avoid any communications with clients in China involved in semiconductor manufacturing since the latest US rules took effect last month.
Infineon CEO Jochen Hanebeck warned that: “Fragmentation is happening on the supply side, and potentially with tariffs,” adding “it will get worse.”
