US Authorities Intend to Impose Restrictions on High-Tech Equipment Export to China

The US authorities are going to expand restrictions on US shipments of semiconductors used for artificial intelligence and tools for chip production to China, according to Reuters.

Currently, the restrictions on the supply of lithography equipment for the production of 14-nm chips to China apply only to KLA, Lam Research and Applied Materials, as well as Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices, unless the companies obtain a license from the Department of Commerce.

However, the Commerce Department intends to issue new regulations based on the restrictions communicated in letters sent to US companies, which could apply to all companies operating in the US or using relevant technology overseas.

If the new rules go into effect, companies such as Intel and Cerebras Systems would also be prevented from shipping computing accelerators to China. In addition, they could also impose licensing requirements on shipments of products containing the target chips to China.

A senior Commerce Department official declined to give a comment to Reuters on the impending action, but said:

As a general rule, we look to codify any restrictions that are in is-informed letters with a regulatory change.

The decision to issue the new rules comes amid US attempts to thwart China's development by targeting technologies in which the United States still retains a dominant position.

Jim Lewis, a technology expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said:

The strategy is to choke off China and they have discovered that chips are a choke point. They can't make this stuff, they can't make the manufacturing equipment. That will change.