Deals

Obama Blocks Chinese Takeover of Aixtron as U.S. Security Risk

  • Military uses of Aixtron technology trigger White House order
  • Aixtron says application of order is limited to U.S. business
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U.S. President Barack Obama appeared to block a Chinese company from buying Germany’s Aixtron SE, marking only the third time in more than a quarter century that the White House has rejected an overseas buyer as a national security risk.

The president upheld a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. that the sale of the semiconductor-equipment supplier to Grand Chip Investment GmbH should be stopped, according to a statement Friday by the Treasury Department.