Yin Zhiyao, Chairman of China Microelectronics Semiconductor, gave up his American citizenship and regained his Chinese citizenship

recently,AMEC released its 2024 financial report, revealing that the company’s founder, chairman and CEO Yin Zhiyao has given up his U.S. nationality and restored his Chinese nationality.According to the financial report information,Mr. Yin Zhiyao was born in 1944 and is a Chinese national.He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Professional resume is as follows:

1984-1986: Process Engineer, Intel Center Technology Development Department;

1986-1991: Senior engineer and manager of Fanlin Semiconductor R&D Department;

1991-2004: Chief Technology Officer of Applied Materials’ plasma etching equipment product headquarters, corporate vice president and chief technology officer of Asia headquarters;

2004 to present: Chairman, general manager and core technical staff of China Microelectronics Corporation.

Previously, Yin Zhiyao held American citizenship for a long time after returning to China to found China Micro.In the 2022 Sinomicron annual report, he was still marked as a U.S. citizen; the 2023 annual report did not disclose nationality information.This financial report makes it clear that its nationality has been changed to China, and it is speculated that the change will take place in 2024.

As for the reason why Yin Zhiyao gave up his American citizenship and regained his Chinese nationality,This move is related to the export control measures against China introduced by the United States on October 7, 2022..

The "U.S. person" provision in the new regulations requires that unlicensed U.S. nationals are prohibited from supporting the development of semiconductor manufacturing facilities or integrated circuit production in mainland China. At that time, many of China Micro's senior executives and core technical personnel, including Yin Zhiyao, were American nationals and may have faced compliance risks.

The new regulations force AMEC executives to face a "choose one" choice: retain U.S. citizenship: they need to comply with the U.S. ban and may not be able to continue to hold core positions at AMEC; give up U.S. citizenship: they can continue to perform their duties, but need to complete a change of nationality.

Yin Zhiyao chose to restore his Chinese nationality to avoid policy risks and ensure the stability of the company's operations.