US pushing Netherlands, Japan to restrict more chipmaking equipment to China....
A U.S. official was headed to Japan after meeting with the Dutch government in an effort to push allies to further crack down on China's ability to produce cutting-edge semiconductors, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
Alan Estevez, the U.S. export policy chief, was again trying to build on a 2023 agreement between the three countries to keep chipmaking equipment from China that could modernize its military.
The U.S. first imposed sweeping restrictions in 2022 on shipments of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China from the likes of California-based Nvidia and Lam Research.
Last July, to align with U.S. policy, Japan, home to chip equipment makers Nikon Corp and Tokyo Electron, curbed exports of 23 types of equipment, from machines that deposit films on silicon wafers to devices that etch out the microscopic circuits.
Then the Dutch government began to regulate Netherlands-based ASML's deep ultra violet (DUV) semiconductor equipment to China and the U.S. imposed restrictions on additional DUV machines to a handful of Chinese factories, claiming jurisdiction because ASML's systems contain U.S. parts and components. ASML is the world's top chip equipment maker.
Washington is now talking to allies about adding 11 more Chinese chipmaking factories to a restricted list, the person said. There are currently five factories on the list, the person said, including SMIC, China's largest chipmaker.
The U.S. also is saying it wants to control additional chipmaking equipment, the person said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department declined comment.
U.S. officials visited the Netherlands in April in a push to stop ASML from servicing certain equipment in China. Under U.S. rules, American firms are barred from servicing equipment at advanced Chinese factories.
But the ASML servicing contracts are still in place, the person said, explaining that the Dutch government does not have the extraterratorial scope to cut them off.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sanctioned Chinese telecoms giant Huawei last year came out with a phone powered by a sophisticated chip. The Huawei Mate 60 Pro was seen as a symbol of the China's technological resurgence despite Washington's efforts.
Senator says US needs to 'up our game' on tracking Chinese tech efforts......
The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies need to do a better job in tracking Chinese advanced technology and other efforts across a variety of fields.
"Our intel community is so used to traditionally spying - you spy on the military, you spy on the government. You don't necessarily follow all of the tech companies," Senator Mark Warner told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "You don't follow where China is getting extraction of rare earth minerals. We just need to kind of continue to up our game in following what China is doing, not just in this chip space but frankly in a lot of these other domains."
Warner said the intel side had "missed a couple times," citing Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp's ability to produce advanced 7- nanometer semiconductor chips and other issues involving chipmaking tool manufacturers. He also expressed concerns about China's advanced efforts on life sciences and biotechnology.
"We've seen no indication that China is not pedal-to-the metal in terms of investing and trying to not just be successful but dominate," Warner added.
Warner said the United States needs to do more on limiting chips and chipmaking tools to China.
"Unfortunately, there may be Western chip manufacturers who are knowingly or unknowingly still having their tools and products circumventing the ban," Warner said.
Warner said he wished the U.S. investors in China-based ByteDance, parent of TikTok, would try "to urge China to go ahead and at least break off the non-Chinese portion" of the popular short video app used by 170 million Americans. U.S. investors own roughly 40% of ByteDance. Warner said he is not sure that China will allow a sale of TikTok.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Congress passed legislation in April requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets by Jan. 19 of next year or face a ban. TikTok and ByteDance have sued to block the legislation. Warner, who opposes a ban, added: "But at the end of the day, the law is the law."
US Seeks Allies’ Help in Curbing China’s AI Chip Progress......
US Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez will press his counterparts in Tokyo and The Hague to put more limits on the activities in China of Dutch supplier ASML Holding NV and Japan’s Tokyo Electron Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. Estevez’s requests, part of an ongoing dialogue with allies, will highlight Chinese chip factories developing so-called high-bandwidth memory chips, said the people, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
ASML and Tokyo Electron machines are used to produce dynamic random access memory dies, which are stacked together to make HBM chips. Chinese companies working on HBM chips include Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a subsidiary of China’s leading memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., according to China’s corporate data provider Qichacha. Huawei Technologies Co. and ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. are also reportedly developing HBM.
The Biden administration has tried for years to limit China’s ability to buy and produce advanced semiconductors, arguing such steps are necessary for national security. Yet results have been mixed, with Huawei and others making significant advances. The US is seeking support from allies, who have implemented their own less stringent controls, to create a more effective global blockade.
“The United States is the most critical player in the global semiconductor equipment industry, but it’s far from the only country that matters. Japan and the Netherlands are also key providers of semiconductor equipment,” said Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced Technologies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The Netherlands and Japan have restrictions on exports but not on servicing, and that’s a critical limitation in the overall technology controls architecture.”
Estevez is expected to repeat a standing US request for the two countries to tighten restrictions on ASML and Tokyo Electron’s ability to maintain and repair their other advanced equipment in China as well, the people said. The US has already imposed such restrictions on American rivals, such as Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp.
The US delegation’s visit to the Netherlands is expected to take place after the new Dutch cabinet is sworn in the first week of July. Reinette Klever of far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party is set to become the minister for foreign trade and development aid, a role that typically oversees the country’s export control policies.
The Dutch and Japanese governments have been resisting the US pressure, people familiar with the matter said earlier. The two countries want more time to evaluate the impact of current export bans on high-end chip-making equipment and to see the outcome of the US presidential election in November.
It is uncertain how the new Dutch government led by Wilders will react to US demands for additional measures. Klever is co-founder of a far-right TV channel Ongehoord Nederland, which stirred controversy for its pro-Russian reporting and climate change skepticism. The outgoing Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher paid a farewell visit to the US last week to lobby for the interests of ASML. Dutch King Willem-Alexander joined Schreinemacher in a meeting with New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
A representative of the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Dutch foreign trade ministry declined to comment. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry did not respond to requests for comment.
HBM chips are an indispensable part of the AI hardware ecosystem because they speed up access to memory, helping AI development. AI accelerators, made by Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., need to be bundled with HBM chips for them to work. US officials are having early-stage conversations about restricting the export of HBM chips, Bloomberg has reported.
SK Hynix Inc. is the leading producer of HBM chips, with Samsung Electronics Co., and US-based Micron Technology Inc. pressing to catch up. SK Hynix relies on equipment from ASML and Tokyo Electron, according to Bloomberg’s supply chain data.
Korean equipment makers including Hanmi Semiconductor Co. and Hanwha Precision Machinery Co. also play a critical role in the HBM supply chain. Earlier this year, Washington asked Seoul to restrict the flow of equipment and technologies for making high-end logic and memory chips to China, Bloomberg News has reported.
Chinese companies can no longer buy the most advanced AI chips from Nvidia, but Huawei is developing its own AI accelerators, called Ascend. It is unclear which company or companies are providing advanced memory chips to Huawei. SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron all stopped supplying Huawei with chips after the US tightened sanctions against the Chinese company in 2020.
Washington officials have also grown worried about China’s own progress in chipmaking equipment. Lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan bill to ban companies that receive US funding for chip factories from purchasing Chinese tools for those facilities.
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A U.S. official was headed to Japan after meeting with the Dutch government in an effort to push allies to further crack down on China's ability to produce cutting-edge semiconductors, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
Alan Estevez, the U.S. export policy chief, was again trying to build on a 2023 agreement between the three countries to keep chipmaking equipment from China that could modernize its military.
The U.S. first imposed sweeping restrictions in 2022 on shipments of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China from the likes of California-based Nvidia and Lam Research.
Last July, to align with U.S. policy, Japan, home to chip equipment makers Nikon Corp and Tokyo Electron, curbed exports of 23 types of equipment, from machines that deposit films on silicon wafers to devices that etch out the microscopic circuits.
Then the Dutch government began to regulate Netherlands-based ASML's deep ultra violet (DUV) semiconductor equipment to China and the U.S. imposed restrictions on additional DUV machines to a handful of Chinese factories, claiming jurisdiction because ASML's systems contain U.S. parts and components. ASML is the world's top chip equipment maker.
Washington is now talking to allies about adding 11 more Chinese chipmaking factories to a restricted list, the person said. There are currently five factories on the list, the person said, including SMIC, China's largest chipmaker.
The U.S. also is saying it wants to control additional chipmaking equipment, the person said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department declined comment.
U.S. officials visited the Netherlands in April in a push to stop ASML from servicing certain equipment in China. Under U.S. rules, American firms are barred from servicing equipment at advanced Chinese factories.
But the ASML servicing contracts are still in place, the person said, explaining that the Dutch government does not have the extraterratorial scope to cut them off.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sanctioned Chinese telecoms giant Huawei last year came out with a phone powered by a sophisticated chip. The Huawei Mate 60 Pro was seen as a symbol of the China's technological resurgence despite Washington's efforts.
Senator says US needs to 'up our game' on tracking Chinese tech efforts......
The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies need to do a better job in tracking Chinese advanced technology and other efforts across a variety of fields.
"Our intel community is so used to traditionally spying - you spy on the military, you spy on the government. You don't necessarily follow all of the tech companies," Senator Mark Warner told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "You don't follow where China is getting extraction of rare earth minerals. We just need to kind of continue to up our game in following what China is doing, not just in this chip space but frankly in a lot of these other domains."
Warner said the intel side had "missed a couple times," citing Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp's ability to produce advanced 7- nanometer semiconductor chips and other issues involving chipmaking tool manufacturers. He also expressed concerns about China's advanced efforts on life sciences and biotechnology.
"We've seen no indication that China is not pedal-to-the metal in terms of investing and trying to not just be successful but dominate," Warner added.
Warner said the United States needs to do more on limiting chips and chipmaking tools to China.
"Unfortunately, there may be Western chip manufacturers who are knowingly or unknowingly still having their tools and products circumventing the ban," Warner said.
Warner said he wished the U.S. investors in China-based ByteDance, parent of TikTok, would try "to urge China to go ahead and at least break off the non-Chinese portion" of the popular short video app used by 170 million Americans. U.S. investors own roughly 40% of ByteDance. Warner said he is not sure that China will allow a sale of TikTok.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Congress passed legislation in April requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets by Jan. 19 of next year or face a ban. TikTok and ByteDance have sued to block the legislation. Warner, who opposes a ban, added: "But at the end of the day, the law is the law."
US Seeks Allies’ Help in Curbing China’s AI Chip Progress......
US Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez will press his counterparts in Tokyo and The Hague to put more limits on the activities in China of Dutch supplier ASML Holding NV and Japan’s Tokyo Electron Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. Estevez’s requests, part of an ongoing dialogue with allies, will highlight Chinese chip factories developing so-called high-bandwidth memory chips, said the people, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
ASML and Tokyo Electron machines are used to produce dynamic random access memory dies, which are stacked together to make HBM chips. Chinese companies working on HBM chips include Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a subsidiary of China’s leading memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., according to China’s corporate data provider Qichacha. Huawei Technologies Co. and ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. are also reportedly developing HBM.
The Biden administration has tried for years to limit China’s ability to buy and produce advanced semiconductors, arguing such steps are necessary for national security. Yet results have been mixed, with Huawei and others making significant advances. The US is seeking support from allies, who have implemented their own less stringent controls, to create a more effective global blockade.
“The United States is the most critical player in the global semiconductor equipment industry, but it’s far from the only country that matters. Japan and the Netherlands are also key providers of semiconductor equipment,” said Gregory Allen, director of the Wadhwani Center for AI and Advanced Technologies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The Netherlands and Japan have restrictions on exports but not on servicing, and that’s a critical limitation in the overall technology controls architecture.”
Estevez is expected to repeat a standing US request for the two countries to tighten restrictions on ASML and Tokyo Electron’s ability to maintain and repair their other advanced equipment in China as well, the people said. The US has already imposed such restrictions on American rivals, such as Applied Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp.
The US delegation’s visit to the Netherlands is expected to take place after the new Dutch cabinet is sworn in the first week of July. Reinette Klever of far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party is set to become the minister for foreign trade and development aid, a role that typically oversees the country’s export control policies.
The Dutch and Japanese governments have been resisting the US pressure, people familiar with the matter said earlier. The two countries want more time to evaluate the impact of current export bans on high-end chip-making equipment and to see the outcome of the US presidential election in November.
It is uncertain how the new Dutch government led by Wilders will react to US demands for additional measures. Klever is co-founder of a far-right TV channel Ongehoord Nederland, which stirred controversy for its pro-Russian reporting and climate change skepticism. The outgoing Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher paid a farewell visit to the US last week to lobby for the interests of ASML. Dutch King Willem-Alexander joined Schreinemacher in a meeting with New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
A representative of the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Dutch foreign trade ministry declined to comment. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry did not respond to requests for comment.
HBM chips are an indispensable part of the AI hardware ecosystem because they speed up access to memory, helping AI development. AI accelerators, made by Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., need to be bundled with HBM chips for them to work. US officials are having early-stage conversations about restricting the export of HBM chips, Bloomberg has reported.
SK Hynix Inc. is the leading producer of HBM chips, with Samsung Electronics Co., and US-based Micron Technology Inc. pressing to catch up. SK Hynix relies on equipment from ASML and Tokyo Electron, according to Bloomberg’s supply chain data.
Korean equipment makers including Hanmi Semiconductor Co. and Hanwha Precision Machinery Co. also play a critical role in the HBM supply chain. Earlier this year, Washington asked Seoul to restrict the flow of equipment and technologies for making high-end logic and memory chips to China, Bloomberg News has reported.
Chinese companies can no longer buy the most advanced AI chips from Nvidia, but Huawei is developing its own AI accelerators, called Ascend. It is unclear which company or companies are providing advanced memory chips to Huawei. SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron all stopped supplying Huawei with chips after the US tightened sanctions against the Chinese company in 2020.
Washington officials have also grown worried about China’s own progress in chipmaking equipment. Lawmakers on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan bill to ban companies that receive US funding for chip factories from purchasing Chinese tools for those facilities.
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