The U.S. encouraged China to set up a robust antitrust regime. Now, Beijing is holding back its required green light for mergers that involve American companies as a technology war with Washington intensifies.
As preconditions for approving some of the transactions, the people said, officials at the State Administration for Market Regulation, China’s antitrust regulator known as SAMR, have asked companies to make available in China products they sell in other countries—an attempt to counter the U.S.’s increased export controls targeting China.
The Chinese demands could put U.S. companies in an impossible position as Washington has enacted legislation restricting American companies’ ability to sell to China and expanding certain types of production there.
The State Administration for Market Regulation didn’t respond to questions. Neither did Tower, MaxLinear and Silicon Motion. Intel declined to comment.
At China’s State Administration for Market Regulation, officials have asked companies to make available in China products they sell in other countries.
Photo:
Costfoto/Zuma Press
For multinationals, it doesn’t take much for a merger to trigger a Chinese antitrust review. For instance, if two companies in a deal have revenue of more than $117 million a year from China, the merger needs Beijing to sign off.
In years past, securing Beijing’s blessing often meant delays as the Chinese agencies handling the review weren’t well coordinated and relied on a smaller staff than major antitrust agencies around the world. Now, Beijing has consolidated all antitrust matters…
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