The United States has announced new export restrictions targeting China’s ability to manufacture advanced semiconductors, drawing swift condemnation from Beijing.
Washington is expanding its efforts to curb exports of cutting-edge chips to China that can be used in advanced weapons systems and artificial intelligence.
Monday’s announcement came just weeks before Donald Trump returns as president, where he is expected to reinforce Washington’s tough stance toward China. On Monday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Joe Biden’s presidency had been especially tough on “strategically addressing China’s military modernization through export controls.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “The United States has taken important steps to protect our technology from being used by our adversaries in ways that threaten our national security.” Washington would continue to work with allies and partners “to proactively and aggressively safeguard our world-leading technologies and expertise from being used to undermine our national security.”
Beijing vowed Monday to defend its interests, and a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman said the United States “abuses export control measures” and has “hindered normal economic and trade exchanges.”
The latest US rules include a restriction on sales to 140 companies, including Chinese chip companies Piotech and SiCarrier, without additional permission. They also affect Naura Technology Group, which makes chip production equipment, according to the commerce department. Others include entities in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
The new U.S. rules also include controls on two dozen types of chip-making equipment and three types of software tools for developing or producing semiconductors. “We are constantly talking to our allies and partners, as well as reevaluating and updating our controls,” said Alan Estevez, undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security.
Netherlands-based computer chip equipment maker ASML, which is the sole maker of the latest chip-making machines, said it did not expect the new U.S. restrictions to affect its latest financial guidance.
ASML said the latest US restrictions would affect its export of deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems to some chip manufacturing plants in China, if enforced by the Dutch government. ASML is the only extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine manufacturer producing the most advanced chips. Due to existing government restrictions on the use of American technology, it can no longer sell EUV machines to China.
The Dutch government said separately on Monday that it shared U.S. security concerns about the export of advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools and was studying the latest U.S. rules.
The US Commerce Department said the new restrictions are intended to curb the development of advanced AI in China that could “change the future of warfare” and harm China’s development of its own semiconductor ecosystem.
The agency maintained that this is in line with Washington’s “small yard, high fence” policy of strategically targeting restrictions, an approach that Chinese President Xi Jinping criticized last month.
Calls to further shut down the semiconductor supply chain have grown since the world became increasingly aware of the powers of AI, with the launch of ChatGPT.
Thibault Denamiel, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP that the latest actions confirm “the trajectory of US policy rather than significantly intensifying control efforts.”
“The importance of the additions is reduced given the proposals of the incoming Trump administration,” he added, noting that the president-elect has promised drastic actions that dwarf these latest restrictions on chip technologies.
With Agence France-Presse