Shortly before handover: US government tightens chip sanctions against China
For two years, the US government has been trying to hinder China's race to catch up in AI technology with sanctions. Now the next round is imminent.
(Image: Connect world/Shutterstock.com)
The outgoing US government wants to impose further far-reaching sanctions against China's chip industry and ban exports to 140 companies. This was reported by the news agency Reuters, citing two anonymous sources. It is one of the last far-reaching measures taken by US President Joe Biden's government to deny China highly developed chips for AI technology. However, it is assumed that his successor Donald Trump will not change this either. Chinese companies that invest in the chip industry are also affected for the first time.
Sanctions for companies from other countries too
According to Reuters, the latest sanctions include restrictions on the export of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), 24 other manufacturing tools and three different software tools. Chip manufacturing technology from Singapore and Malaysia will also no longer be allowed to be supplied to Chinese companies. The news agency also writes that the US government is claiming even more far-reaching sanctions that apply to manufacturers from the USA, Japan and the Netherlands. This means that they are only allowed to supply products manufactured in Japan or the Netherlands. This would affect the Dutch company ASML, for example.
The allegedly imminent step is already the third attempt to hinder China's chip industry through sanctions. The US government originally banned the sale of the most powerful GPU accelerators in October 2022. The technology is primarily in demand for training AI algorithms. However, because Nvidia circumvented the ban with adapted versions of its own fastest models and with the help of a loophole, the US government adjusted the bans in the fall of 2023. The requirements of the third round are now likely to affect various manufacturers once again. According to Reuters, the US government wants to exempt countries that implement comparable restrictions from the sanctions.
HBM's export bans are therefore likely to affect the South Korean companies Samsung and SK Hynix in particular, as well as Micron from the USA. However, the exact consequences remain to be seen. The Wall Street Journal is already pointing out that the long wait for the next round of sanctions has probably given China's economy enough time to stock up on the now blocked technology. This proves once again what problems the US government has in effectively hindering China's race to catch up.
(mho)