- U.S. lawmakers seek broader global restrictions on chipmaking tools sold to China.
- Bipartisan report finds Chinese firms bought $38 billion in advanced chip equipment.
- Committee urges allies to tighten export rules, curbing China’s semiconductor capabilities.
U.S. legislators are pushing for wider restrictions on chipmaking machinery to China following a bipartisan inquiry that revealed Chinese chip producers acquired $38 billion worth of advanced equipment last year.
A report released on Tuesday by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China indicates that discrepancies in regulations from the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands have resulted in non-U.S. chip equipment manufacturers selling to certain Chinese companies that U.S. firms were unable to.
The committee urged for wider restrictions by the U.S. and its allies on the sale of chipmaking tools to China, as opposed to focused restrictions on certain Chinese chip manufacturers. The $38 billion was acquired from five leading suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, in compliance with the law, marking a 66% rise from 2022, the year when numerous export controls on these tools were implemented.
This represented almost 39% of the total sales of Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, ASML, and Tokyo Electron, according to the report.
"These are the sales that made China increasingly competitive in the manufacture of a wide range of semiconductors, with profound implications for human rights and democratic values around the world," the report said.
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Both the Democratic and Republican administrations in the U.S. have aimed to limit China's capacity to produce microchips, essential for areas such as artificial intelligence and military advancement. The two economic giants are also competing to market advanced technologies such as AI data centers to other countries.
Mark Dougherty, president of Tokyo Electron's U.S. division, stated that sales in the industry for China have begun to fall this year, partly due to new regulations and appreciated increased collaboration between the U.S. and Japanese administrations.
The report suggested that the extensive bans should incorporate stricter limitations on parts that China might utilize to manufacture its own chipmaking equipment.