Towards an escalation in tensions? The American government published last night (Friday) a series of export regulations, which include a clause that will prevent China from obtaining semiconductors manufactured using American equipment, anywhere in the world. The new regulations are expected to expand US oversight capabilities over China’s technological advances, Reuters reported.
“Washington is sending wrong and dangerous messages”: tensions between the US and China are rising
The regulations, some of which went into effect immediately, were sent to the companies KLA, Lam Research, and Applied Materials, according to which the companies must immediately stop shipping equipment to factories that are fully Chinese owned, which produce advanced chips.
The slew of measures could amount to the biggest shift in U.S. policy toward shipping technology to China since the 1990s. The regulations could cripple China’s chipmaking industry by forcing U.S. and foreign companies that use U.S. technology to cut off support for some of China’s leading factories and designers.
“It will set the Chinese back years,” said Jim Lewis, a technology and cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), adding that the policy echoes the strict regulations of the height of the Cold War.
In response to the comments, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, said that the new US regulations aimed at Chinese chip manufacturers are an abuse of trade means and are intended to maintain the country’s “technological hegemony”.