WASHINGTON (AP) — Japan and the Netherlands have agreed a deal with the U.S. to limit China’s access to materials used to make advanced computer chips, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The person declined to be identified as the deal has not yet been officially announced. It is unclear when all three sides will announce the agreement. The White House declined to comment.
The Biden administration imposed export controls in October to limit China’s access to advanced chips it says can be used to make weapons, commit human rights abuses and improve the speed and accuracy of its military logistics. She urged allies like Japan and the Netherlands to follow suit.
China has reacted angrily, saying trade restrictions would disrupt supply chains and the global economic recovery.
“We hope relevant countries will do the right thing and work together to uphold the multilateral trade regime and ensure the stability of global industrial and supply chains,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said earlier this month. “This is also to protect their own long-term interests.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Friday Dutch and Japanese officials were in Washington for talks led by President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan that looked at the “security of emerging technologies,” efforts to improve Support of Ukraine and other issues.
“We’re grateful they were able to come to DC and have these conversations,” Kirby said.
Kirby declined to say whether there had been an agreement on tighter export controls on semiconductor technology. This month, Biden met separately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to push for tighter export controls.
In a press conference last week, Rutte was asked about the talks but said it involves “such sensitive material … high quality technology that the Dutch government is communicating about it very carefully and that means in a very limited way”.
Veldhoven, Netherlands-based ASML, a leading maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, said Sunday it did not know any details about the agreement or how it would affect ASML’s business.
ASML is the world’s only manufacturer of machines that use Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography to produce advanced semiconductor chips. The Dutch government has banned ASML from exporting this equipment to China since 2019, but the company had still shipped lower-quality lithography systems to China.
ASML has research and manufacturing centers in Beijing and Shenzhen, China and a regional headquarters in Hong Kong.
US officials say China is spending big bucks to develop its fledgling semiconductor makers but has so far failed to produce the high-end chips used in the most advanced smartphones and other devices.
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Durbin reported from Detroit. AP reporter Mike Corder contributed from The Hague, Netherlands.