獨家：美國、荷蘭同時打出兩拳去打擊中國芯片製造商

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Exclusive-US, Dutch set to hit China's chipmakers with one-two punch

Thu, June 29, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. PDT

By Karen Freifeld

(Reuters) -The United States and the Netherlands are set to deliver a one-two punch to China's chipmakers this summer by further restricting sales of chipmaking equipment, part of the countries' ongoing effort to prevent their technology from being used to strengthen China's military.

While the Dutch are planning to curb certain equipment from national champion ASML, and other companies, the U.S. is expected to go one step further and use its long reach to withhold even more Dutch equipment from specific Chinese fabs.

The Dutch government and ASML declined to comment, as did the U.S. Commerce Department, which oversees export controls.

The U.S. in October imposed export restrictions on shipments of American chipmaking tools to China from U.S. companies like Lam Research and Applied Materials on national security grounds, and lobbied other countries with key suppliers to adopt similar curbs.

Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu in Washington decried the move and said the U.S. "has deliberately blockaded and hobbled Chinese companies and forcibly relocated industries and pushed for decoupling," and said China would "closely follow the developments and firmly safeguard our own interests."

Japan, home to chip equipment makers Nikon Corp and Tokyo Electron Ltd, has since adopted rules to restrict exports of 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment that will take effect July 23.

The Dutch government plans to announce new regulations on Friday with a licensing requirement for the top tier of ASML'S second-best product line, deep ultra violet (DUV) semiconductor equipment. ASML's most sophisticated machines -- extreme ultraviolent "EUV" lithography machines -- are already restricted, and have never been shipped to China.

ASML said in March it expects the Dutch regulations to affect its TWINSCAN NXT:2000i and more sophisticated models.

But the company's older DUV models, like one called the TWINSCAN NXT:1980Di, could also be kept from about six Chinese facilities by the U.S. The facilities are expected to be identified in a new U.S. rule that will allow the U.S. to restrict foreign equipment with even a small percentage of U.S. parts to those sites, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to speak publicly.

The new Dutch regulations will not take effect immediately, sources said, with one person expecting the effective date to be September, two months after publication.

The planned U.S. rule, which sources said may be published by late July, will require licenses to export equipment to about a half dozen Chinese facilities, including a fab operated by SMIC, China's largest chipmaker, the person familiar with the U.S. plans, said. Licenses to ship the equipment to those facilities will likely be denied, the person said.

The U.S. rule is expected to apply to ASML, the world's leading chip equipment maker and Netherlands' largest company, because its systems contain U.S. parts and components.

It is not unusual for the U.S. to modify proposals before clearing regulations, so both the timing and the restrictions could change. The plan described reflects thinking in late June.

The U.S. is also expected to come out with other updates to its sweeping October rules in July, according to sources.

ASML is Europe's largest chip equipment company due to its dominance in lithography, one of the central steps in the computer chip making process.

Other companies that could be impacted by the new Dutch rules include atomic layer deposition firm ASM International. A spokesman for the Almere-based company declined comment ahead of Friday's announcement.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing by Anna Driver and Stephen Coates)

Translation

（路透社）-美國和荷蘭將於今年夏天同時打出兩拳以進一步限制芯片製造設備的銷售來打擊中國芯片製造商，這是兩國持續努力的一部分，以防止其技術被用於加強中國的軍事力量 。

雖然荷蘭計劃限制國家龍頭企業ASML和其他公司的某些設備，美國預計將更進一步，利用其長期影響力，向特定的中國製造先進電子產品工廠扣留更多荷蘭設備。

荷蘭政府和 ASML 拒絕置評，負責監督出口管制的美國商務部也拒絕置評。

美國去年10月以國家安全為由，對 Lam Research 及 Applied Materials 等美國公司在向中國出口美國芯片製造工具實施出口限制，並遊說其他擁有主要供應商的國家採取類似的限制措施。

中國駐華盛頓大使館發言人Liu Pengyu 譴責美方此舉，稱美方 “蓄意封鎖、束縛中國企業，強行搬遷產業，推動脫鉤” ， 並表示中方將 “密切關注事態發展，堅定維護自身利益” 。

日本是芯片設備製造商 Nikon Corp 和 Tokyo Electron Ltd 的所在地，並通過了限制 23 種半導體製造設備出口的法例，該法例將於 7 月 23 日生效。

荷蘭政府計劃於週五宣布新法規，對 ASML 第二好的頂級產品線深紫外 (DUV) 半導體設備提出發牌制度。 ASML的最先進的機器 - 極端紫外線“EUV”光刻機 - 已經受到限制，並從未運往中國。

ASML 在 3 月份表示，預計荷蘭法規將影響其 TWINSCAN NXT:2000i 和更複雜的型號。

但該公司較舊的 DUV 型號，如名為 TWINSCAN NXT:1980Di 的型號，也可能被美國禁止在大約六家中國機構組織中使用。據一位知情, 但無權公開發言的人士透露, 預計這些機構組織將在美國的一項新規則中得到說明，該規則將允許美國限制外國設備被運往這些機構組織地點, 即使這些外國設備是只有一小部分是美國零部件。

消息人士稱，荷蘭新法規不會立即生效，一位人士預計生效日期為 9 月，即發布兩個月後。

熟悉美國計劃的人士稱，計劃中的美國規則可能會在 7 月底公佈，該規則將要求向大約六家中國工廠出口設備需要許可證，其中包括中國最大芯片製造商中芯國際運營的一家晶圓廠。 該人士表示，向這些設施運送設備的許可證可能會被拒絕。

美國的規定預計將適用於全球領先的芯片設備製造商、荷蘭最大的公司ASML，因為其係統包含美國零部件。

美國在批准法規之前修改提案並不罕見，因此描述的時間和限制都可能發生變化。現所描述的計劃只反映了六月下旬的想法。

據消息人士透露，美國預計還將在 7 月份對其 10 月份的廣泛規則進行其他更新。

ASML 因其在光刻領域的主導地位而成為歐洲最大的芯片設備公司，光刻是計算機芯片製造過程的核心步驟之一。

其他可能受到荷蘭新規定影響的公司包括原子層沉積公司 ASM International。 這家總部位於阿爾梅勒的公司的發言人在周五宣布這一消息之前拒絕發表評論。

So, the United States and the Netherlands will further restrict sales of chipmaking equipment to China as part of the countries' ongoing effort to prevent their technology from being used to strengthen China's military. It is not unusual for the U.S. to modify proposals before making regulations, so both the timing and the restrictions now speculated could change. I am interested in knowing how China will react to this, will it bargain with the US unofficially behind the door?