Applied Materials to pay $252 million penalty for selling chipmaking tools to banned Chinese firm — settles over alleged 56 tool exports to chipmaker SMIC following Entity List designation

Applied Materials has been ordered by the U.S. Department of Commerce to pay a $252 million penalty for illegally exporting semiconductor manufacturing equipment to subsidiaries of SMIC after the Chinese foundry was placed on the U.S. Entity List. The violations involved 56 exports of ion implanter systems between November 2020 and July 2022. The penalty was set at twice the transaction value of $126 million. The settlement includes a three-year suspended denial of export privileges and requires external audits and annual compliance certifications. Applied Materials has not admitted to criminal wrongdoing as part of the civil settlement, and related investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have been closed without action.