Asian Tech Press (Oct 24) -- Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (YMTC) has asked its core U.S. employees to leave due to new U.S. export curbs on China's chip industry.

It is not clear how many U.S. citizens and Green Card holders will be forced to leave Yangtze Memory, but several U.S. employees working in mainland China have already left the memory chip maker, the Financial Times reported Monday, citing four people familiar with the matter.

Some Americans played a key role in the company's breakthrough in producing NAND flash memory chips, but "the company had to let them go," said a senior engineer at Yangtze Memory.

The new U.S. export controls require any U.S. citizen or entity to obtain approval from the Department of Commerce to provide assistance to fabs, which disrupts a key talent pipeline for China's chip industry.

Simon Yang, a U.S. citizen and longtime YMTC chief executive, stepped down before the U.S. announced the sanctions, two people familiar with the matter said, amid mounting U.S. pressure on the chipmaker.

Yang led Yangtze Memory to become China's leading memory chip maker, with funding of 220 billion yuan ($30 billion) mainly from Hubei province and a national fund.

Apple has suspended plans to use chips from Yangtze Memory in the iPhone 14 due to political pressure and new U.S. curbs.

Three YMTC employees said Yang stepped down as chief executive in late September and became executive vice chairman instead. However, the sources said the latest round of U.S. curbs left him in an uncertain situation at the company.