The Joe Biden administration is expected to come up with a plan to significantly expand semiconductor equipment export controls to China as early as April.
According to Bloomberg News on the 11th (local time), it is reported that the US government has recently briefed its semiconductor equipment manufacturers on such a plan.
A source said, “The introduction of the new regulations could double the number of semiconductor equipment that needs special licenses for export, creating new barriers for equipment manufacturers such as Applied Materials.”
The US government had already issued regulations in October last year effectively banning the export of equipment needed to produce advanced semiconductors to China.
According to this, the export of logic semiconductor △18-nano or lower DRAM △128-layer or higher NAND flash △16-nano with non-planar transistor structure such as FinFET or Capet △14-nano logic related semiconductor technology and equipment production in almost blocked.
Currently about 17 devices are subject to this regulation, but Bloomberg reported that the number is expected to double if the Netherlands and Japan join the US regulation.
Currently, there are three major semiconductor equipment manufacturers in the United States: Applied Materials, KLA, and Lam Research, and they dominate the semiconductor equipment industry along with Tokyo Electron in Japan and ASML in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands recently joined the export control of the United States and decided to control the export of not only extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure equipment but also deep ultraviolet exposure equipment (DUV), a model of a generation ago, to China. It is known that Japan will soon announce a new control policy regarding the export of semiconductor equipment.
Bloomberg News reported that US semiconductor equipment companies’ concerns are growing as stronger export controls are anticipated while already struggling with semiconductor equipment export controls in October last year. In addition, as the control of semiconductor equipment in China is strengthened, it is expected that more difficulties will follow in the supply of equipment for Chinese semiconductor factories operated by domestic semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
