In an effort to stifle Beijing’s scientific and military advancements, the Biden administration on Friday unveiled a comprehensive set of export regulations, including a move to block off China from specific semiconductor chips produced anywhere in the globe with US machinery.
The regulations, some of which take effect right away, expand upon limitations outlined in letters top toolmakers KLA Corp, Lam Research Corp, and Applied Materials Inc. received earlier this year, effectively ordering them to stop shipping equipment to factories producing advanced logic chips that are wholly owned by China.
The package of actions may represent the biggest change in US policy regarding technology transfers to China since the 1990s. If successful, they might cripple China’s semiconductor manufacturing sector by requiring international and US-based corporations to stop providing support to some of the country’s top chip producers and designers.
Senior government officials said several of the measures were intended to stop foreign companies from selling advanced chips to China or providing Chinese companies with tools to develop their own sophisticated chips during a briefing with reporters on Thursday to preview the guidelines.
The enlargement of the so-called foreign direct product regulation is the foundation for the US’s increased ability to restrict the export of chips built with US equipment to China. Prior to stopping the supply of semiconductors to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, it was earlier enlarged to allow the US government the power to oversee exports of chips created abroad to Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
China’s IFLYTEK, Dahua Technology, and Megvii Technology were placed to the entity list in 2019 on charges that they assisted Beijing in the repression of its Uyghur minority group. On Friday, the Biden administration imposed the expanded restrictions on these companies.
The regulations released on Friday also prohibit the export of a wide range of processors used in Chinese supercomputing systems.
The definition of a supercomputer under the regulations is that it must have more than 100 petaflops of computing power and 6,400 square feet of floor space. According to two industry sources, this definition may also apply to some commercial data centres at Chinese IT firms.
The decision, according to American Enterprise Institute defence policy specialist Eric Sayers, shows a fresh attempt by the Biden administration to curb China’s advancements rather than merely aiming to level the playing field.
China’s leading memory chip manufacturer YMTC and 30 other Chinese corporations were added earlier on Friday by the US to a list of businesses that US investigators cannot investigate, escalating tensions with Beijing and kicking off a 60-day clock that could result in much harsher sanctions.
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