(Bloomberg) — U.S. efforts to pressure the Netherlands and Japan to further limit Chinese access to semiconductor technology suffered a setback this week, with both countries asking for time to enforce existing limits — and to see whether the U.S. Who wins the presidential election?
The US is urging allies to tighten maintenance of contraband gear in China, an effort that includes asking the Dutch government to prevent ASML Holding NV from servicing and repairing restricted chip manufacturing equipment purchased by Chinese companies before the current sales ban. Involves applying pressure. US officials also want Japanese companies to limit exports of certain high-quality chemicals for chip production.
But both countries are opposed to those additional steps, according to people familiar with the matter, wanting more time to evaluate the impact of export restrictions on high-quality chip-making equipment. Another factor is uncertainty about the outcome of the U.S. election in November, according to the people who described private discussions on condition of anonymity.
ASML and the Dutch trade ministry declined to comment. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it was in contact with international export control authorities, but declined to comment on “diplomatic exchanges.” The US Commerce Department did not immediately comment.
The standoff signals that uncertainty about President Joe Biden’s prospects in November is clouding his efforts to curb further China’s technological advances. According to the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll, released in late March, Republican nominee Donald Trump leads Biden in key swing states, 47% to 43%.
Although Trump plans to impose tariffs of more than 60% on Chinese goods if elected, he has not yet fully explained how he will handle the US-China tech trade war.
During his presidency, Trump sanctioned Huawei Technologies Co. and ultimately cut off the Chinese company’s access to major global chip makers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. His administration also barred ASML from selling to China the extreme ultraviolet lithography machines needed to make cutting-edge chips. ,
Senior US officials, including Alan Estevez, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, met with their Dutch counterparts in the Netherlands on Monday and raised the issue of blocking ASML from servicing their banned machines in China, according to some of the people. Dutch officials told the US delegation that it was too early to push for new measures, and that it would be better to wait and see the results of recently imposed sanctions.
Until this year, ASML has been banned from selling its three top deep ultraviolet lithography machines to Chinese companies. US officials persuaded China to cancel some of the Dutch supplier’s shipments before Hague imposed sanctions last year.
The U.S. delegation later visited Berlin to discuss similar sanctions with German counterparts, people familiar with the matter said. Bloomberg News reported that US officials want German optical component maker Carl Zeiss AG, a key supplier of ASML, to pull out of shipping key parts to China.
German Chancellor’s officials neither indicated support for the U.S. proposal nor rejected it outright, pointing to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s upcoming visit to China, according to the people. Scholz is visiting China over the weekend with a business delegation that includes Zeiss Chief Executive Officer Carl Lamprecht. He is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, with curbs on semiconductors set to feature high on the agenda.
A Zeiss spokesperson said the company is in touch with ASML and authorities, but declined to comment further.
U.S. officials also stopped in Brussels this week to discuss a range of issues, including chips and sanctions on Russia, people familiar with the situation said.
Meanwhile, some said Japanese officials have not agreed to US calls to limit exports of at least some chip-making chemicals to China. It is unclear whether Biden administration officials raised the issue during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington earlier this week.
–With assistance from Takashi Mochizuki, Jillian Deutsch, Debbie Wu and Alberto Nardelli.
(Updated with trip to Brussels in second to last paragraph)
More stories like this are available on Bloomberg.com
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Published: April 13, 2024, 02:38 am IST
