USA: Netherlands and Japan also limit chip sales to China – 01/28/2023 – Market

Japan and the Netherlands will join the United States in restricting the export of tools for producing chips to China. The measure aims to make it difficult for the Chinese military to produce advanced weapons.

The trilateral agreement was sealed on Friday (27), after a last round of talks between high-ranking representatives in the White House, according to reports from several sources to the Financial Times. The deal was first reported by the Bloomberg news agency.

The US had already imposed, three months ago, unilateral controls to prevent US companies from selling cutting-edge tools for chip development to Chinese groups.

Semiconductors are essential for the development of supercomputers and other resources with military applications, such as artificial intelligence, development of nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles.

Sought by the Financial Times, the US government did not comment on the newly sealed pact.

According to the specialized British publication, the government of Democrat Joe Biden negotiated for two years with Japan and the Netherlands, but was encountering resistance. Both countries expressed concern about the possibility of local industry being affected by the agreement.

Three companies would be particularly sensitive to restrictions because they operate in the semiconductor sector: the Dutch ASML and the Japanese Tokyo Electron and Nikon