The House Select Committee on China is advocating for stricter controls on companies producing semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Their concerns center on how these sales are helping to enhance China’s capacity for chip production.
In a recent report, the committee highlighted the significant financial investments made by Chinese firms—around $38 billion—over the last year to acquire semiconductor manufacturing equipment from leading companies like ASML, Tokyo Electron, Applied Materials, KLA, and Lam Research, all based in the U.S. and allied nations. This figure represents about 39% of the total revenue of these companies.
John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the committee from Michigan, voiced alarm over these developments, stating that profits shouldn’t come at the expense of U.S. national security. He emphasized the need to prevent essential equipment from falling into adversarial hands, warning that this could compromise America’s position in technological advancements.
The report calls for a significant expansion of national regulations regarding the licensing of chip-manufacturing tools and a ban on exports that could aid military modernization or human rights abuses in China. Furthermore, the committee urged a collaborative approach among the U.S. and its allies concerning export controls, due to lesser restrictions faced by non-U.S. firms like ASML and Tokyo Electron.
It also suggests that the U.S. could broaden its export regulations to cover specific foreign products dependent on American technology, in order to halt their sale in allied countries. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois and committee member, reiterated the importance of not selling machinery needed for chip production, which could support the Chinese Communist Party’s military efforts.
This report emerges amid ongoing discussions in Washington about the best strategy to maintain a competitive edge over China in artificial intelligence, with chips at the forefront of this debate. The Trump administration faced backlash during the summer re-evaluating government policies on the sales of advanced chips by companies like Nvidia and AMD to China, ultimately agreeing to require these companies to donate over 15% of their revenue from such sales to the U.S. government.
