U.S. vendors suspend operations at China’s biggest memory chip maker

BEIJING–U.S. chip equipment vendors are pulling staff from China’s leading memory chip maker and suspending business there, people familiar with the matter say, as they rush to assess the impact of restrictions on export of semiconductors from the Department of Commerce.

State-owned Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. is facing a support freeze from major vendors, including KLA and Search Lam people said. The suspensions follow sweeping U.S. restrictions on China’s chip sector last week, ostensibly to prevent U.S. technology from advancing Chinese military power, though the impact may extend further into the world. industry.