Chinese chip companies strongly object to new US export control measures

Chinese chip companies are voicing strong objections to the latest US export control measures which would further disrupt the global semiconductor supply chains and harm the interests of a wide range of multinational chip companies.

The comments came after the US government on Tuesday intensified restrictions on chip exports to China, a move that the American semiconductor industry has been strongly lobbying against for fear of market uncertainty.

Tuesday's rules broaden the controls by including slightly less powerful chips than those covered under the previous rules and expand the previous list of manufacturing equipment.

Meanwhile, the US Commerce Department included more Chinese chip companies, including Beijing Biren Technology Development Co Ltd and Moore Thread Intelligent Technology (Beijing) Co Ltd, on a trade black list.

Biren said in statement that it strongly opposed the US Department of Commerce's move and will actively appeal to relevant US government departments, calling on the US government to re-examine it.

Moore Thread also said in a statement that it strongly opposed the decision and is actively communicating with all parties and is evaluating the impact of the move.

The Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents 99 percent of the US semiconductor industry by revenue, voiced concern over the rules in a statement on Tuesday.

"Overly broad, unilateral controls risk harming the US semiconductor ecosystem without advancing national security as they encourage overseas customers to look elsewhere," the group said.

Dutch chip manufacturing equipment provider ASML Holding NV said the latest US chip export control new regulations will be applicable to a limited number of factories in China related to advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

"These export control measures will likely have an impact on the regional split of our systems sales in the medium to long term. However, we do not expect these measures to have a material impact on our financial outlook for 2023 and for our longer-term scenarios for 2025 and 2030, as communicated during our Investor Day in November 2022,"ASML added.

Cheng Yu contributed to the story