The US administration is considering the possibility of imposing additional restrictions on the export of semiconductor equipment and AI chips to China, increasing pressure on the Chinese technology sector. This is reported by foreign media.
The decision on restrictions was discussed with the participation of representatives of Japan and the Netherlands, as well as with active lobbying from American chip manufacturers who want to avoid taking tougher measures with catastrophic damage to business.
The latest proposal has key differences from previous projects. In particular, it was previously planned to impose sanctions against six suppliers of Huawei Technologies Co., but now their list has been reduced to several, with the exception of ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc., which is trying to develop technology for the production of AI chips.
In addition, the restrictions will affect two chip manufacturing plants owned by Huawei's partner, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
The milder restrictions can be seen as a partial victory for American chip manufacturers — Lam Research Corp., Applied Materials Inc. and KLA Corp., who have been opposing unilateral U.S. restrictions on key Chinese companies for several months. From their point of view, the sanctions will put American companies at a disadvantage compared to foreign competitors Tokyo Electron and Dutch equipment manufacturer ASML, whose management has not yet agreed to strict restrictions. Japan and the Netherlands have imposed some restrictions on China since 2022, but are resisting U.S. pressure to impose stricter controls.
The new control rules in the United States will also include some provisions regarding high-bandwidth memory chips, which are responsible for data storage and the development of artificial intelligence.
The new measures will affect Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., as well as the American chip manufacturer Micron Technology Inc.
