Japan and the Netherlands have reportedly reached an agreement with US authorities to impose restrictions on China in the semiconductor sector.
The United States has been engaged in intense diplomatic negotiations at the international level for several months to impose effective restrictions on China in the field of semiconductors. After having closed access to the latest generation chips produced by its companies to its rival, the Biden administration wants to reproduce the pattern with Japan and the Netherlands.
Japan and the Netherlands, the two essential partners
Indeed, the two nations are indispensable allies for this new cold war. Because they are home to companies such as ASML (for Holland) and Nikon Corp or Tokyo Electron capable of supplying the equipment necessary for the production of advanced semiconductors without going through the United States. ASML, through its unique mastery of extreme ultraviolet lithography technology, is a company that Washington must rally behind its policy.
This week, representatives from both countries were on a diplomatic visit to the United States, where they discussed many topics with Jack Sullivan, national security adviser to Joe Biden. China’s restrictions on semiconductors were on the agenda. And according to Bloombergthe three parties would have finally reached an agreement to ban the export of advanced technologies in the field to the Middle Kingdom.
China will be hobbled…for now
And the ambition is quite high, since according to Bloomberg, the partners hope, by coordinating in this way, to hinder China in the development of its own production capacities for electronic chips. But it may well be that they only succeed in slowing down the huge machine piloted by Beijing.
This is the opinion of ASML boss Peter Wennink. Asked about the hypothesis of such an agreement, he explained that one of the possible consequences would be to push China even more to advance in the sector, where it could previously rely partly on exports. ” It’ll take time, but eventually they’ll get there “, he thus predicted.
The allied governments could, moreover, put limits on the restrictions wanted by the United States. Thus, according to Omdia analyst Akira Minamikawa, Japan could say no to measures such as the ban on sending engineers to customers who equip themselves with their machines. Indeed, the impact of such rules would be far too great for their business.
Source : Reuters, GSMArena
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