Chinese chipmakers have complained about the U.S. Chips Act, which provides funding of some $39 billion to entice firms like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. to build high-end chipmaking capacity in America. On Thursday, China’s chip industry body took aim at a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s policy.

China is launching an investigation into whether the United States is unfairly subsidizing its chipmakers and dumping lower-end chips, marking one of Beijing's most serious countermeasures against American technology sanctions to date.