The United States reportedly has requested that its allies in Asia and Europe enhance their restrictions on Chinese chip-making technology, according to a report by the Financial Times on April 26.
The British business news organization reported that the U.S. is urging South Korea, Japan, and the Netherlands to “use existing export controls more aggressively.” Specifically, the report highlighted that the U.S. has requested these allied nations to cease their engineers from “servicing chipmaking tools at advanced semiconductor fabs in China.” The report was able to provide these details based on information gathered from five individuals familiar with the matter firsthand.
The Readable reached out to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) and requested comment on whether the South Korean government had been urged by the U.S. to comply with this request. However, an official of MOTIE declined to comment, stating that “It is an internal matter.”
On October 7, 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) implemented new regulations regarding export controls on semiconductors and technology equipment in China. These regulations entail restrictions on U.S. citizens, prohibiting them from developing or producing semiconductors in Chinese firms without a license. Furthermore, the U.S. government stated that semiconductors and computing chips cannot be exported without permission from the U.S.
Alan Estevez, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, emphasized the rationale behind the government’s actions against China’s chip-making technology. He stated, “We are updating our policies today to ensure that we are addressing the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China, and this while we continue our outreach and coordination with allies and partners.”
Meanwhile, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office has arrested a fraudster for leaking Samsung Electronics’ core semiconductor technology to a Chinese company last Januray. The fraudster, who had resigned from Samsung, saved the technology on a third-party server and then leaked it to the Chinese semiconductor company ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT). Four additional individuals were involved in this incident.
