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Old-style chips are used for a wide variety of devices and other machines, as well as weapons.

By Ana Swanson and Paul Mozur

Ana Swanson reported from Washington and Paul Mozur from Taipei, Taiwan.

Biden’s leadership on Monday opened an industrial investigation into Chinese production of old PC chips that are integral to cars, dishwashers, telecommunications networks and military weapons.

The inquiry could result in tariffs or other measures to block Chinese chips from entering U.S. markets, though the decision of which approach to take, if any, would fall to the incoming Trump administration.

Industry after industry – from metal to ships, solar panels to electric cars – China has poured money into building world-class production facilities, creating a wave of cheap products that end up flooding global markets. American corporations, along with those in many other countries, finding themselves unable to compete, closed their doors, leaving Chinese corporations out of the global market.

U. S. officials worry that the semiconductor industry will be next. Chinese corporations have been increasing their production of chips, especially older types of semiconductors that continue to force a wide diversity of machines and devices. China is building more new semiconductor factories than any other country, a progression that U. S. officials say threatens the viability of microchip factories in Europe and the United States.

Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative, said in a call on Sunday that China’s policies were enabling its companies to rapidly expand and to “offer artificially lower-priced chips that threaten to significantly harm, and potentially eliminate, their market-oriented competition.”

This affects supply chains that “are increasingly subject to problems that can be used to economically coerce other countries,” he said.

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