Trump Blocks $1.3 Billion Lattice Semiconductor Buy on National Security Grounds

​President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday blocking Canyon Bridge Fund’s $1.3 billion acquisition of Lattice Semiconductor, supplier of smart connectivity products for Ultra HD and other applications, on national security grounds, said the White House. Canyon Bridge is a private equity fund with investors that include China Venture Capital Fund Corp., which is “owned by Chinese state-owned entities that manages industrial investments and venture capital,” said a White House statement. Trump blocked the sale under 1950's Defense Production Act, which authorizes the president to “suspend or prohibit certain acquisitions that result in foreign control of a United States business if he concludes, among other things, that there is credible evidence that the foreign interest exercising control might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States,” said the White House. Cited national security risks include “the potential transfer of intellectual property to the foreign acquirer,” the importance of semiconductor “supply chain integrity” to the U.S. government and the fact that the U.S. government buys Lattice products. Lattice representatives didn’t comment. The company's 8-K filing Sept. 1 at the SEC said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States would recommend to Trump that he should block the deal. “Lattice remains of the view that the proposed transaction does not raise any national security concerns that cannot be addressed by the comprehensive mitigation measures that Lattice and Canyon Bridge have proposed to implement,” the company said then.