from the we'll-get-back-to-you-on-that dept.
Netherlands refuses to summarily agree to US export restrictions on China over silicon chips.:
The United States of America has requested a number of countries in Europe and Asia to impose sanctions on Chinese chip manufacturing firms. One of these, the Netherlands, has come out and put a statement saying that they will not summarily accept new US restrictions on exporting chip-making technology to China, and is consulting with European and Asian allies.
The Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher on Sunday said that he expects the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to discuss export policy with President Joe Biden when Prime Minister Rutte visits the US.
In effect though, the Netherlands has stopped ASML Holding from shipping its most advanced machines to China and is only allowing them to sell machinery and technology that were made before 2019.
The Dutch government has denied ASML permission to ship its most advanced machines to China since 2019 following a pressure campaign by the Trump administration, but ASML did sell 2 billion euros worth of older machines to China in 2021.
The US took action in October to limit China's capacity to produce its own chips, and US trade officials stated at the time that they anticipated the Netherlands and Japan to follow suit soon. ASML has said that should the rules proposed by the US come into play, it could impact roughly 5 per cent of its group sales.
Previously: Dutch Chip Equipment Maker ASML's CEO Questions U.S. Export Rules on China
Related Stories
From Reuters' coverage of NRC Handelsblad's interview with ASML's CEO Peter Wennink regarding U.S. export restrictions on China:
following U.S. pressure, the Dutch government has already restricted ASML from exporting its most advanced lithography machines to China since 2019, something he said has benefited U.S. companies selling alternative technology.
He said that while 15% of ASML's sales are in China, at U.S. chip equipment suppliers "it is 25 or sometimes more than 30%".
Wennink said it seemed contradictory that U.S. chip manufacturers are able to sell their most advanced chips to Chinese customers, while ASML is only able to sell older chipmaking equipment.
Meanwhile, "it is common knowledge that chip technology for purely military applications is usually 10, 15 years old. (Yet) the technology used to make such chips can still be sold to China," he added.
Used or new, does not matter:
As the U.S. government is gearing up to put even stricter constraints on the Chinese semiconductor sector, China-based chipmakers are accelerating their purchases of wafer fab equipment (WFE) to ensure the continuous operation of their fabs. However, Chinese companies prefer to keep these transactions under the radar as some violate U.S. sanctions, reports DigiTimes.
Companies like SMIC, HuaHong, Nexchip, and Silan Microelectronics are buying everything they can, including second-hand tools, according to the story that cites anonymous industrial sources. Some of the WFE they procure cannot be shipped to China as this would violate the U.S.-imposed sanctions, which is precisely the reason why parties prefer to keep such purchases low profile.
Interestingly, even Huawei — which is under severe sanctions by the U.S. government and legally cannot procure anything containing advanced U.S. technology without permission — is stepping up purchasing wafer fab tools. Perhaps, as it is prepping to build a fab with SMIC, it wants to get as many tools as possible.
Previously: U.S. Sanctions Against China Could Hurt Own Domestic Industry: Semiconductor Industry Association
Related:
- Netherlands Refuses to Summarily Agree to US Export Restrictions on China Over Silicon Chips
- Huawei Patents EUV Lithography Tools Used to Make <10nm Chips
China's cyberspace regulator said on Sunday that products made by U.S. memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology had failed its network security review and that it would bar operators of key infrastructure from procuring from the firm:
The decision, announced amid a dispute over chip technology between Washington and Beijing, could include sectors ranging from transport to finance, according to China's broad definition of critical information infrastructure.
"The review found that Micron's products have serious network security risks, which pose significant security risks to China's critical information infrastructure supply chain, affecting China's national security," the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement.
[...] U.S. officials, including members of a U.S. congressional select committee on competition with China, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Micron derives around 10% of its revenue from China, but it is not clear if the decision affects the company's sales to non-Chinese customers in the country.
Also at The Register, MarketWatch and ABC News.
Related:
- US Restrictions See China's Chip Imports Plummet 27% in First Two Months of 2023
- Netherlands Refuses to Summarily Agree to US Export Restrictions on China Over Silicon Chips
- US Chip Makers Hit by New China Export Rule
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 19 2023, @02:10AM (2 children)
Still busy trying to stuff the world's ills back into your box?
It wasn't long ago, the US was off-shoring EVERYTHING to China! Damned idiots, I was telling everyone who would listen how that could go wrong. Every way that I imagined, came true, along with hundreds of other ways that I couldn't imagine.
Idiots.
Well, Pandora's box is open now. You ain't putting anything back in there. Kinda like babies, don't you know? You just can't stuff 'em back in the womb.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RamiK on Thursday January 19 2023, @02:54AM (1 child)
Some argue differently: https://reshorenow.org/content/pdf/2021_RI_data_report.pdf [reshorenow.org]
compiling...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday January 19 2023, @02:33PM
They may argue differently, but the initiative is dealing with problems that we created. Thank Henry Kissinger, primarily. The world is a different place, and it can't be put back the way it was.
I should note that maybe I don't actually want it put back like it was. But, the fact is, Pandora's box is open, and the US will never again be the undisputed leader in manufacturing. Or, maybe in much of anything else.
Had things been done a little differently, we probably wouldn't be having the problems we have today. Instead of investing so heavily in China, we should have been investing in Mexico, Central America, and South America. And, the Europeans who invested so heavily in China could have been investing in Africa. With manufacturing and other capabilities spread around the globe, China wouldn't wield the power that it does today. Because we gave China that huge lead in the global market and neglected other investments, China is today making their own investments in those areas.
China is growing it's sphere of influence into areas that we neglected. Or actually, areas that we exploited, instead of investing in.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by RamiK on Thursday January 19 2023, @02:40AM
ASML's CEO was complaining about how the restrictions weren't being equally imposed on the US's own companies for a while: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=22/12/16/1755203 [soylentnews.org]
compiling...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by shrewdsheep on Thursday January 19 2023, @01:16PM (1 child)
Dear USA, why are you bullying your "allies" around? Be a good capitalist and pre-order all machines ASML will produce in the next decade. *That* will teach China a lesson.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by pvanhoof on Friday January 20 2023, @06:39PM
Exactly this. ASML in Eindhoven already can't follow with the orders for just the markets that it currently is allowed to export hardware to. The US can surely work around the Dutch government not wanting to ban ASML to sell hardware to for example China, by simply buying up all the hardware ASML can produce.
Then the US has both what it wants: China has no hardware, and the US has all the chip manufacturing within its borders.
So please stop being little people who try to make its allies adhere to its own self imposed trade wars. Buy all the machines. Or shut up.
Either way. China will replicate the technology within a handful of years. After which the US will be behind anyway. Why isn't the US developing its own mirrors and lenses? Because a ASML machine is basically a whole lot of Carl Zeiss lenses and/or mirrors (with a light source developed in the US).
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jelizondo on Thursday January 19 2023, @03:46PM
Love how those free-market capitalists want the government’s hands out of the market, except of course when it is convenient for them!
Let’s hear them say: ”The market knows best! Let the market decide!”
Or better, let the government give us large subsidies (CHIPS act [mckinsey.com]) and close the market to our competitors,