On the 7th (local time), the U.S. administration of Joe Biden announced new controls on China’s access to U.S. semiconductor technology. It has restricted exports of some semiconductor chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing, and effectively banned Chinese semiconductor manufacturers from selling high-tech semiconductor equipment in the U.S.
According to Bloomberg and Reuters, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced extensive export control measures that require U.S. companies that produce chips above a certain level to be separately licensed if they sell China’s high-tech semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Specifically, if manufacturing DRAMs with less than △18((nanometers) △ 128 stages or more NAND flash △ logic chips with less than 14 nanometers in China, it must be approved when exporting high-tech technologies.
In particular, if the production facility is owned by a Chinese company, the “principle of rejection estimation” is applied, effectively controlling exports. However, in the case of the U.S. and its allies, exemptions are actually applied on condition that they go through a separate screening process. As a result, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which have production plants in China, must obtain U.S. government permission in the future.
Earlier, the Ministry of Commerce reportedly sent official letters to South Korean semiconductor equipment companies KLA, RAM Research, and Applied Materials to effectively stop the export of equipment to Chinese-owned factories. This measure is expected to hurt the production of semiconductor equipment such as China’s largest semiconductor consignment manufacturer, SMIC, Yangtze Memory Technology (YMTC), and Changshin Memory Technology (CXMT).
The Ministry of Commerce imposed export control measures on high-tech computing semiconductor chips and transactions for supercomputers, including high-performance AI learning chips and specific semiconductors for supercomputers. Earlier in August, the U.S. government sent an official letter to domestic semiconductor companies Nvidia and AMD saying that semiconductors for AI should not be taken out to China without permission.
Bloomberg said, “The U.S. government’s move is aimed at developing its own semiconductor chip industry and stopping China’s military development,” adding, “It has increased tensions between the U.S. and China and added new complications to the industry that is reeling from sluggish demand.”
“The measure came at a difficult time in the chip industry when demand for personal computers and smartphone parts is plummeting,” he said. “If the new regulations are implemented, it will be more difficult for chip suppliers used in Chinese supercomputers and related equipment to get permission to process orders.”
