US Chipmaker Marvell Chops Research Staff in China

China's Guangzhou is boosting investment in its chip sector this year. Photo: Reuters.

US microchip designer Marvell Technology Group said on Thursday it is cutting some of its research and development staff roles in China.

“In China, we will focus our R&D investments on local customers and the China market,” Stacey Keegan, vice president of corporate marketing at Marvell, said.

“As a part of this realignment, several of our business units and functions are announcing changes to their global location strategy that will result in the elimination of roles in China.”

Marvell joins a number of US-based companies have scaled back their R&D operations in China, after Washington enacted tough sanctions on the Chinese chip sector early this month.

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Marvell at one point had 1,000 people working in China, about 800 of whom were located at its research and development centre in Shanghai, according to iJiwei, an online news site tracking the semiconductor sector.

Marvell did not specify how many staffers would be affected by the cuts.

Chip Demand Slowing

The company’s move comes as chipmakers brace for slowing demand following a boom at the peak of a global chip shortage.

Samsung Electronics on Thursday reported a 31% drop in profit due to weak demand, and forecast it would stay low until early 2023.

Chip stocks have taken a hit this month after Samsung, SK Hynix and Advanced Micro Devices announced dour forecasts for the near future.

Reuters, with additional editing from Alfie Habershon

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Alfie Habershon

Alfie is a Reporter at Asia Financial. He previously lived in Mumbai reporting on India's economy and healthcare for data journalism initiative IndiaSpend, as well as having worked for London based Tortoise Media.