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The U.S. Commerce Department may make noise about restricting tech exports to China, but it is said to be doing more to effectively curb the flow of materials and equipment.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Uncle Sam’s efforts to keep key technologies out of the hands of rogue foreign powers — especially China — may not have the desired effect. A total of 2,652 restricted technology export licenses to China were issued by the Commerce Department in 2020, accounting for 94 percent of the total requested.
In the year Less than half a percent of the $125 billion sent to China in 2020 is subject to licensing requirements, the newspaper reported.
The WSJ reports that US policy aimed at restricting the export of technologies that pose a national security threat is not being effectively implemented, and that the US continues to export vast amounts of semiconductor, aerospace and AI/ML tech to China.
The US has taken a more nationalistic approach to exports over the past two administrations, ostensibly to avoid China’s advanced chipmaking technology. At least in public.
The Commerce Department’s latest bans, announced last week, prevent unauthorized exports of ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor materials, electronic computer-aided design (CAD) technology and pressure-gap (PGC) technology. These technologies have applications in the production of next-gen semiconductor technology, including those required to manufacture chips based on 3nm process technology.
The ban is just the latest in a series of measures aimed at hampering China’s chip development, leading up to the passage of the CHIPS Act funding earlier this month.
In early July, the US reportedly began a pressure campaign to persuade the Netherlands.
DUV is a previous-gen manufacturing technology, and in recent years has been replaced by ultra-high ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, which is used to produce 7nm and smaller process nodes. However, there is a strong demand for DUV equipment in China. According to a Business Korea report released at the time, SMIC, China’s largest state-owned operator, planned to invest $11 billion to expand its DUV capacity by 2023.
Meanwhile, the United States is said to be banning the export of US-made equipment and intellectual property needed to manufacture flash memory chips with more than 128 layers in China.
However, recent developments have called into question the effectiveness of these measures.
Late last month, Tech Insights, a US-based semiconductor analysis firm, reported that SMIC has not only been able to produce chips based on the 7nm process node, but has been producing them in small quantities since last year. Some experts believe that SMIC production may be low at this level. The technology appears to be a copy of a design used by foundry giant TSMC. Until recently, SMIC’s most advanced process technology was believed to be at 14nm.
It is unclear whether the Commerce Department’s inability to effectively enforce export bans is to blame for SMIC’s recent advances.
The record He reached out to the Commerce Department for comment; We’ll let you know what we hear back. ®
PS: Former Amora Gareth Corfield reported last week that some components made by Chinese chipmaker Necperia, which is trying to buy the UK’s Newport wafer fab, have found their way into at least one Russian cruise missile based in Ukraine. Nexperia insists that its semiconductors are not intended for military use and that it has no customers in Russia. We are led to believe that the Kremlin can obtain the parts through a network of front companies and other channels.
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