Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of U.S. semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new U.S. president plans to expand efforts that began under Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess.
Trump officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron and ASML engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, according to people familiar with the matter. The aim, which was also a priority for Biden, is to see key allies match China curbs the U.S. has placed on American chip-gear companies, including Lam Research, KLA, and Applied Materials.
The meetings come in addition to early discussions in Washington about sanctions on specific Chinese companies, other people said. Some Trump officials also aim to further restrict the type of Nvidia chips that can be exported to China without a license, Bloomberg News has previously reported. They’re also having early conversations about tightening existing curbs on the quantity of AI chips that can be exported globally without a license, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.