US reported to tighten restrictions on chipmaking gear to China

 

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The US is tightening restrictions on China’s access to chipmaking gear, underscoring Washington’s accelerating efforts to curb Beijing’s economic ambitions.

Washington had banned the sale of most gear that can fabricate chips of 10 nanometers or better to China’s top chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp without a license. Now it has expanded that barrier to equipment that can make anything more advanced than 14 nm, Lam Research chief executive Tim Archer said.

“We were recently notified that there was to be a broadening of the restrictions of technology shipments to China for fabs that are operating below 14 nanometers,” Archer said on a conference call. “That’s the change, I think, people have been thinking might be coming and we’re prepared to fully comply.”

The moratorium likely extends beyond SMIC and includes other fabrication plants run by contract chipmakers operating in China, including those by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, he said.