The US government is working to ease the resistance from its allied nations as it considers further extending restrictions on China to slow down its ability to produce cutting-edge semiconductors.
The Biden administration has reportedly drafted new regulations to restrict the export of machinery, software and certain types of semiconductors to China. Such rules would apply to products from several countries if they are manufactured using American technology or components, as per a report from NYT News Service.
The rules are currently being framed to close off some of the newer methods that Chinese chipmakers have discovered to obtain technology, despite existing international restrictions.
The US has urged allies like Japan and the Netherlands to strengthen their technology export restrictions to China during visits and discussions, including a Japanese state visit to Washington in April. These countries host firms that manufacture chipmaking equipment, such as ASML and Tokyo Electron. However, industry representatives reportedly argue that these rules could negatively impact them, leaving uncertainty about when or if foreign governments will implement such limitations.
Some proposed US regulations include big exemptions, meaning that restrictions on equipment shipments to specific semiconductor plants in China would not apply to over 30 allied nations, including the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan. This has led to discontent among US businesses, who contend that this disparity will disadvantage them compared to their foreign rivals.
The updated restrictions are an expansion of export controls announced last year and will make it more difficult for China to manufacture advanced chips abroad. The list of manufacturing equipment that falls under the export controls has also been expanded, among other changes to the policy.
(Inputs from NYT News Service)
