The People’s Republic of China has deepened its anti-dumping probe into U.S. companies producing analog integrated circuits as the trade issues between the two nations continue to smolder.
The Ministry of Commerce’s Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau has issued a detailed questionnaire to gather data on sales in China regarding certain analog IC chips, according to Bloomberg. Analog IC chips are made by a range of U.S. semiconductor companies, including Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN), Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI), Microchip Technology (NASDAQ:MCHP), Qualcomm (QCOM) and ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ:ON). It’s unclear at this point the exact companies being targeted by the probe.
Some of the details China is attempting to gather in the probe include sales volumes, the names of Chinese customers and costs ranging from logistics to warehousing, according to the report. It’s the latest development in the back-and-forth trade and tariff regulations between the U.S. and China.
China’s Ministry of Commerce announced last month it was launching the anti-dumping investigation at the behest of the Jiangsu Semiconductor Industry Association.
“The ‘Questionnaire for Foreign Exporters or Producers in the Anti-dumping Cases of Analog Chips’ inquires about information such as company structure and operations, investigated products, export sales to China, domestic sales, operational and financial information, production costs and related expenses, estimated dumping margin, and checklists,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry defines dumping as “the situation in which imported products enter the market of the People’s Republic of China at an export price lower than their normal value in the normal course of trade.”
Some of the analog integrated chips the Ministry is looking at include Controller Area Network interface transceiver chips, RS485 interface transceiver chips, digital isolator chips and gate driver chips. These chips are found in a wide variety of products, including consumer electronics, automobiles, healthcare devices and telecommunications equipment.
U.S. President Donald Trump plans to make a trip to Asia later this week. He is slated to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the tour, which is expected to include Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. It will mark his first trip to Asia during his current presidential term.