China's commerce minister Wang Wentao has told Micron Technology's President Sanjay Mehrotra that Beijing would welcome the US chipmaker deepening its footprint in the Chinese market, indicating a thaw between the tech rivals. In a meeting on 1 November, Wentao told Mehrotra that China will 'optimize the environment for foreign investment and provide service guarantees for foreign tech firms'.

Why does it matter?

This detente between the world's top two economies comes just months after the Cyberspace Administration of China prohibited key national infrastructure operators from buying from the largest US memory chipmaker, claiming Micron had failed a network security check. China's move against Micron was seen as payback for Washington's measures to curb Beijing's access to advanced semiconductor technology.

The meeting between Wang and Mehrotra is aligned with a recent warm-up in relations between Beijing and Washington, as officials from both countries are working hard to arrange a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in San Francisco later this month during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.