In the “chariot” USA Japan and the Netherlands are involved in a new technology war with China over electronic chips.

A Washington official confirmed the existence of an agreement between the United States, Japan and the Netherlands to impose new restrictions on the export of microchip technology to China.

“We can’t talk about a deal at this stage,” Don Graves, deputy secretary of the Commerce Department, said on the sidelines of an event in Washington. “But you can certainly talk to our friends in Japan and the Netherlands,” he added pointedly.

On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the controversial deal had been completed. Two people with knowledge of the case later confirmed the news to Reuters.

The US had to convince the Dutch and Japanese

Last October, the US imposed a series of restrictions on the export of microchip technology tools to China in an effort to curb the expansion of China’s chip industry, which could allow Beijing to build up its military capability.

For the restrictions to take effect, Washington had to convince the Netherlands and Japan, home to major chipmakers such as ASML and Tokyo Electron, respectively.

The US Department of Commerce said in an email that it will continue to coordinate export controls with foreign allies, calling the matter a “priority” and acknowledging that a coordinated response is “more effective” than any unilateral move.

Officials from the Netherlands and Japan traveled to Washington to discuss a wide range of issues. Asked Friday if a semiconductor deal had been discussed, President Joe Biden confirmed it without elaborating.

China’s semiconductor industry has been heavily criticized by US authorities for imposing export restrictions. Washington fears that Beijing is engaged in, among other things, technological espionage, stealing trade secrets from American giants in various industries.

Beijing has allocated funds to develop domestic industries, but chip factories, known as factories, are still heavily dependent on imported equipment.

Major players in China.

SMIC, which has the largest factory in China, manufactures chips used in the automotive industry, IoT (Internet of Things) devices, and some mobile phones. The US has blacklisted SMIC, effectively banning the Dutch company ASML from supplying equipment needed for SMIC.

YMTC is the only Chinese company in the Nand flash market. This is a highly competitive area dominated by only a few companies from the US and South Korea.

YMTC designs and manufactures chips and has also been attacked in the US. In 2022, YMTC introduced a chip with 232 layers of memory cells, bringing it closer to competitors such as South Korea’s Samsung. Experts estimate that equipment export restrictions could hamper his efforts.

CXMT is the only major company in China that designs and manufactures Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chips. As with Nand memory manufacturing, the field has long been dominated by a handful of companies from the US, South Korea, and Taiwan.

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