Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co., Ltd.

Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co., Ltd. (THATIC) was the Chinese partner in AMD's 2016 processor-technology licensing and joint-venture arrangement. [1] AMD said the arrangement created two separate legal entities to develop system-on-chip products tailored to the Chinese server market, with AMD holding a majority interest in one and a minority interest in the other. [1]

AMD's 2016 annual filing said the joint ventures were funded by AMD's contribution of patents while THATIC was responsible for initial and ongoing operating finance; AMD had no obligation to fund the ventures. [2] The filing described an approximately $293 million license-fee arrangement, milestone-based payments, expected royalties on products using the licensed intellectual property, and AMD engineering and technical support for product development. [2]

AMD did not treat the ventures as ordinary operating subsidiaries. [2] It concluded that the entities were variable-interest entities dependent on the partner's continuing financing, that AMD was not the primary beneficiary, and that the joint ventures therefore were not consolidated; AMD accounted for its interests under the equity method. [2] AMD also disclosed a 2017 development-and-intellectual-property agreement and related research-and-development services. [3]

AMD later identified the partner as Higon Information Technology Co., Ltd., formerly Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment Co., Ltd. [4] In June 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security added THATIC and the THATIC joint venture to the Entity List. [4] AMD's 2026 quarterly filing continues to disclose the Higon joint ventures and the Entity List implications. [5] BIS's current regulation lists Higon, THATIC and multiple Haiguang aliases at a Tianjin address and states that exports, reexports and transfers of items subject to the EAR require a license, with a presumption of denial. [6]