U.S. firms and their China affiliates are ramping up investment in Chinese semiconductor companies, aiding Beijing’s bid for chip-sector dominance and complicating Washington’s efforts to preserve America’s lead in the critical technology, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
U.S. venture-capital firms, chip-industry giants and other private investors participated in 58 investment deals in China’s semiconductor industry from 2017 through 2020, more than double the number from the prior four years, according to an analysis of deals data by New York-based research firm Rhodium Group done at the Journal’s request.
