Signage at the entrance to the Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, on October 19, 2021. Photo: VCG

As US tech firms including Intel Corp reported a weaker-than-expected performance for the second quarter, with Intel even announcing a downsizing plan to axe 15,000 jobs, Chinese analysts said the US government is witnessing a fresh blow as a result of its technology war against China. 

Intel reported worse-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday (US time), with its revenue for the quarter declining by 1 percent year-on-year for the quarter ending on June 29. The chipmaker announced a plan to lay off over 15 percent of its employees. A CNBC report suggested the company's performance was in part affected by US export controls on Chinese customers for the company.

Apple Inc, publishing its financial report on the same day, said its revenue in the Chinese market was down 6.5 percent year-on-year for the quarter ending on June 29, while its net profit recorded at $21.45 billion during the period, up about 7.9 percent year-on-year

Ma Jihua, a veteran telecom industry observer, told the Global Times on Friday that US tech firms including Intel are facing obstacles caused by the "enormous uncertainty deliberately raised" by the Biden administration in its reckless crackdown on China in the technology field.

"The innate nature of the global semiconductor industry requires certainty, so companies can bet billions of dollars on research of new-generation technologies or invest in foundries. With the US government seriously disrupting the global semiconductor industrial and supply chain with its technology war against China, companies are becoming more hesitant in placing such investments and innovation has slowed down," Ma said.

Some politicians in the US have for years been pushing US companies to move their supply chains out of China to countries such as India and Japan, or back to the US, but the actual results have been bad for companies that tried this, as the quality or cost is far from desirable.

The US crackdown has also forced China to greatly enhance its self-reliance, and as a result, China's exports of mature chips have soared. This also eats into the existing global market share of US chip companies, said Ma.

For Apple, the tech war waged by the Biden administration has definitely caused fractures in at least some Chinese consumers' faith in the company's products and its ability to provide services in a sustained fashion, noted Ma.

A number of US tech firms have voiced opposition to the US government's technology crackdown on China, saying they won't succeed.

US chip stocks, including AMD and Nvidia rallied on Wednesday after Reuters reported that new US chip exports restrictions may not apply to US allies such as the Netherlands, Japan and South Korea. That rally collapsed on Thursday as the US reportedly planned to escalate AI chip restrictions on China.