Semiconductor industry veteran Yin – who previously worked in the US at Applied Materials, Lam Research and Intel – identified as a US citizen in AMEC’s annual reports for 2022, 2021 and 2020. AMEC did not state Yin’s nationality in the firm’s 2023 report.
The change of citizenship for Yin, 81, is the latest sign of the increasingly bifurcated semiconductor supply chains of China and the US amid an escalating tech war between the world’s two largest economies.
In October 2022, new restrictions rolled out by the US Department of Commerce banned “US persons” from being involved in “the development or production” of chips at “certain China-located semiconductor fabrication facilities”.
Last year, two AMEC executives with US citizenship, Ni Tuqiang and Yang Wei, stepped down from their positions as “core technical personnel”. At the time, AMEC said their exit would “not have a significant adverse impact” on the firm’s research and development (R&D) progress, operational capabilities or its competitiveness.
AMEC’s Shanghai-listed shares were unchanged on Friday, closing at 190 yuan (US$26).
