Chinese-American semiconductor legend caught between a rock and a hard place in the U.S.-China chip war

Semiconductor legend Gerald Yin left the United States to spend 18 years in China, where he said he built a company that would be among the global powerhouses in chip manufacturing equipment. Now, under U.S. restrictions, the global industrial integration he advocated has been undermined, plunging the U.S. citizen's life's work into uncertainty.

Ltd. (Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc., 688012.SH) $Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China (688012.SH)$ , which provides etching equipment and other tools to the industry. The U.S. government's involvement comes as the company, which has made several major breakthroughs before, is trying to catch up with industry leaders in the United States and Japan. The Chinese manufacturer is decades younger than its rivals, but says companies such as Robert Bosch GmbH and U.S. chip maker Geficent $GlobalFoundries (GFS.US)$ are already its customers. The company's equipment is used on dozens of production lines in Europe and Asia.