UNCERTAIN BUSINESS CLIMATE
“Definitely, it will affect because it is interlinked,” said Mr Lye. “(The US) wants to restrict certain products. They will probably restrict some of our products going to the US. These are policies that will just suddenly pop up and we don’t know what will happen next.”
He added: “I think I did the right thing. I moved some of the products to Vietnam, to India. So these are the places I’m looking at right now.”
Meanwhile, Chinese businesses in the chip sector are struggling.
China is heavily reliant on foreign companies for technological advancements, but a US ban on chip exports this month aims to cut the country off from advanced semiconductors.
China is at least three decades away from catching up with leading players in the sector, according to estimates by analysts, and US efforts to cut off its access to imports threatens to become a choke point.
“Since President Biden came into office, the focus of the United States has shifted to high tech, such as the Chip 4 Alliance and Chips and Science Act. It also wants to build up the supply chain excluding China, to guard against China,” said Mr He, a former Chinese trade official.
“That will contain China and will also affect China’s growth.”