In its battle against China, the United States is not letting up the pressure. In a letter sent in mid-October to the Japanese authorities, several American elected officials asked Tokyo to strengthen its export restrictions on equipment for the production of semiconductors. Otherwise, they could force their way through.
“Without this action, we believe China will continue to threaten our collective security interests through its use of sophisticated semiconductor equipment,” write the elected representatives of the committee on China of the House of Representatives, in a letter addressed to the Japanese ambassador in Washington.
In 2022, the Biden administration implemented severe restrictions on the export of the most advanced chips to China, particularly Nvidia’s graphics cards dedicated to artificial intelligence. But also the equipment necessary for their production.
Pressure on the Netherlands and Japan
To be effective, these sanctions had to be accompanied by similar measures in the Netherlands and Japan, respective homelands of ASML and Tokyo Electron, two essential equipment manufacturers in the industrial chain. After multiple diplomatic pressures, The Hague and Tokyo aligned themselves with American positions.
Since then, Washington has strengthened its sanctions, in particular to close certain loopholes into which Nvidia had fallen. The United States is therefore asking its partners to align with these new restrictions. The Netherlands has already agreed to further limit the sale of ASML’s lithography machines.
In Japan, however, American efforts have not yet borne fruit, in particular because of the government’s fears of penalizing Tokyo Electron too heavily. An argument brushed aside by elected representatives of Congress, who emphasize that the company anticipates record turnover. Japan also fears suffering reprisals from Beijing, particularly on the export of rare earths.
Congress threatens Tokyo to act “unilaterally”
For Washington, time is running out. “China uses American, Japanese and Dutch equipment to develop the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing industrial base,” underline the elected officials in their letter. “More worryingly, much of this foundry capacity is being built by Huawei, […] a company that has a history of threatening our national security.”
If the diplomatic route does not succeed, Congress threatens Tokyo to act “unilaterally”. Washington could in particular impose new export restrictions on China for foreign companies that use American technologies, which is the case for Japanese equipment manufacturers. Elected officials also threaten to exclude Japanese companies from the Chips Act, a vast subsidy program to increase semiconductor production in the United States.
Selected for you
