Yang Ruilin, a research director of the Institute of Obstetrics International, ITRI has explained how the new United States-Japan-Dutch agreement will restrict the exportation of chip equipment to China. According to him, the pact will give the United States more control over China’s semiconductors. The expert disclosed this in an interview with Technews.
Recently, the United States reached an agreement with Japan and the Netherlands to implement a new ban on semiconductor manufacturing equipment exported to China. Part of the agreement is to expand the United States’s influence, measures, and scope on China’s semiconductors exportation in the future.
According to Yang Ruilin, in October of last year, the United States tightened its restrictions on the sale of machinery for making semiconductors to China, but there are still some gaps in the embargo, with the exposure machine being the biggest one.
However, he further claimed that the export control of lithography equipment to China was only applicable to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment for sophisticated processes below 7 nanometers; however, as a result of a deal the United States reached with the Netherlands and Japan, the control over China will now also apply to equipment for mature processes operating at 40 nanometers of deep ultraviolet (DUV).
Almost all silicon-based semiconductor front-end processes will be covered by U.S. control over Chinese semiconductors, according to Yang Ruilin, and the application fields have expanded beyond cloud computing to include microcontrollers, networks, mobile communications, and the Internet of Things.
In all, the expert anticipates that the United States’ control measures against China will continue and that the sphere of control will be expanded to encompass third-generation semiconductors, quantum computers, and advanced packaging, among other areas where the United States may exert control over China.
