Trump team seeks to toughen chip controls over China

The Trump administration is planning to toughen semiconductor restrictions on China, continuing and expanding the Biden administration’s efforts to limit Beijing’s technological prowess, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

US officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron, engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, the report said.

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Some Trump officials also aim to further restrict the quantity and types of Nvidia chips that can be exported to China without a license, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

An Nvidia spokesperson and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) declined to comment

Tokyo Electron, ASML, the White House and the Dutch foreign trade ministry and did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Trump’s goal is for key allies to align with the US in imposing restrictions on China, similar to those placed on American chip gear companies like Lam Research and Applied Materials, as per the report.