For a long time, the press has been discussing the possible strengthening by the current US authorities of sanctions against unfriendly countries in the supply of equipment for the production of chips, and this week it became known that a preliminary version of new export control rules was published for further public discussion within 60 days.
Image source: NVIDIA
It is clear that in the context of the election race in the United States, the current government does not want to postpone the issue of introducing new sanctions. As Bloomberg explains, special attention in the new edition of US export control rules is paid to limiting the access of unfriendly countries to technologies that make it possible to create quantum computers and advanced semiconductor components. The technology of transistors with a surrounding gate, which is used in their products by world leaders such as TSMC, Samsung and Intel, will also be banned. It allows, regardless of lithographic standards, to increase the density of transistors and increase the performance of chips.
Specialized software, technologies for processing certain metals, equipment for producing HBM type memory and such memory itself – all this will require a special export license for delivery from the United States to other countries, but for its closest allies the authorities are ready to make exceptions in the form of a simplified procedure for obtaining such licenses . The Netherlands and Japan may be among the American favorites, but subject to their readiness to support similar restrictions on their part. With the growing importance of the Chinese market for the Netherlands and Japan, the authorities of both countries are faced with a difficult choice between political loyalty to an influential ally and material well-being.