The United States announced new export restrictions targeting China’s advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, drawing immediate criticism from the Chinese government.
The U.S. government is expanding efforts to curb exports to China of cutting-edge chips that can be used in advanced weapons systems and artificial intelligence.
Monday’s announcement comes weeks before Donald Trump returns as president, where he is expected to strengthen Washington’s hawkish stance on China. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Monday that President Joe Biden’s term has been particularly challenging in “strategically addressing China’s military modernization through export controls.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “The United States has taken significant steps to ensure that our technology is not used by adversaries in ways that threaten our national security.” . The U.S. government continues to work with allies and partners to “actively and aggressively protect our world-leading technology and know-how from being used to undermine our national security.”
The Chinese government pledged on Monday to protect its interests, with a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce saying the United States was “abusing export control measures” and “impeding normal economic and trade exchanges.”
The latest U.S. rules include restrictions on sales to 140 companies, including Chinese semiconductor companies Pyotek and SiCarrier, without additional permits. The Commerce Department said they also affect Nowra Technology Group, which makes chip manufacturing equipment. Others include entities in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
The new U.S. rules also include regulations for 20 types of chip manufacturing equipment and three types of software tools for semiconductor development or production. “We are in constant dialogue with our allies and partners to reevaluate and update our controls,” said Alan Estevez, Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security.
Netherlands-based computer chip equipment maker ASML, the only manufacturer of cutting-edge chip-making machinery, said it does not expect new U.S. regulations to impact its latest financial metrics. Ta.
ASML said the latest U.S. regulations, if implemented by the Dutch government, will impact exports of deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) systems to some chip manufacturing plants in China. ASML is the only manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet lithography equipment (EUV) that produces cutting-edge chips. The company already cannot sell EUV equipment to China because of existing government restrictions on the use of US technology.
Separately, the Dutch government said on Monday that it shares the United States’ security concerns regarding exports of advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools and is considering the latest U.S. rules.
The US Department of Commerce said the new regulations are aimed at slowing China’s development of advanced AI that could “change the future of warfare” and undermining the development of China’s own semiconductor ecosystem.
The agency said this was in line with Washington’s “small garden, high fence” policy of strategic restrictions, an approach that Chinese President Xi Jinping criticized last month.
Since the launch of ChatGPT raised global awareness of the power of AI, calls for further shutdowns of the semiconductor supply chain have been growing.
Thibault Denamiel, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP that the move confirms “the trajectory of U.S. policy rather than a significant increase in regulatory efforts.”
“The additions become less important in light of the incoming Trump administration’s proposals,” he added, noting that the president-elect has vowed drastic action to trivialize these latest restrictions on chip technology.
with Agence France-Presse
Source: www.theguardian.com
