At the beginning of this year, the Japanese authorities, under pressure from American foreign policy partners, decided from July to impose restrictions on the export to China of 23 commodity items related to equipment and materials for the manufacture of semiconductor components. As the publication explains South China Morning Post, the preliminary version of export restrictions turned out to be even more severe than previously planned. Japanese suppliers will be able to ship “sanctioned” categories of goods without special permits only to 42 “friendly” countries in relation to Japan.
Image Source: Reuters
Japanese officials even unwittingly surpassed their American counterparts in an effort to restrict Chinese companies’ access to lithographic equipment. As a result, even models of equipment using 193-nm deep ultraviolet lasers can be banned. Essentially, Chinese buyers will lose access to Japanese equipment that allows them to produce 14nm and 28nm chips, which, under the US version of the restrictions, are not prohibited from being shipped to China. In 2022, Japan became the largest supplier of lithographic equipment to the PRC, and now restrictive measures will significantly reduce the corresponding export flow.
