Chinese House of Representatives committee calls for stronger restrictions on ‘chip tool makers’
The House Committee on China called for stronger restrictions on companies producing equipment used to make semiconductor chips amid concerns that their sales boost Beijing’s chipmaking capabilities.
In a new report on Tuesday, the committee said Chinese companies spent $38 billion on semiconductor manufacturing equipment from five major companies based in the United States and allied countries — ASML, Tokyo Electron, Applied Materials, KLA and Lam Research — last year.
The report indicated that this represents 39 percent of its total revenues.
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“They are increasing their profits at the expense of America’s national security,” Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) said in a statement. “We must not allow this vital equipment to be delivered to our number one adversary, or America may lose the technological arms race.”
The committee’s report called for the ban and nationwide licensing requirements to be “substantially” expanded on chipmaking tools, suggesting that entity-based export controls were insufficient.
Lawmakers also called for more consensus between the United States and its allies on export controls. The report found that non-U.S. instrument makers, such as ASML and Tokyo Electron, were less restrictive than their American counterparts.
If necessary, the report suggested that the United States expand its use of the Foreign Direct Products Rule, which expands export controls to include certain foreign-made products that rely on American technology, to prevent sales in allied countries.
“It makes no sense to sell the Chinese Communist Party the chips it needs to modernize its military and violate human rights,” Rep. Raja Krishnamurthy (D-Ill.), the ranking member on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a statement.
He continued: “But it does not make sense for us to sell them the machines and tools they need to produce those chips themselves.”
The report comes amid debate in Washington about how best to outpace China in artificial intelligence, with chips at the heart of that conversation.
The Trump administration faced backlash from both sides this summer when it allowed Nvidia and AMD to resume sales of some advanced chips to China. In return, the chipmakers agreed to transfer 15% of their revenues from these sales to the US government.
