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US lawmakers push to limit China’s access to chip tools
US House lawmakers have called on the State and Commerce departments to restrict China’s access to advanced chipmaking equipment, citing concerns over national security.
In a bipartisan letter, House committees urged the US government to implement nationwide controls on key semiconductor tools and components that China cannot produce domestically.
The letter also requested restrictions on servicing existing equipment in Chinese chip facilities, arguing maintenance is vital for operational functionality.
Lawmakers asked President Donald Trump’s administration to provide a strategy briefing within a month to secure allied cooperation on broad export controls.
The move comes amid reports that China has made progress in developing prototype extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, which are critical for manufacturing advanced chips used in AI, smartphones, and military applications.
🔗 Source: Reuters
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Implications, context, and why it matters.
Export controls leave a multi-billion-dollar gap
- U.S. firms face tight limits, yet a U.S. House probe found Chinese companies used gaps in allied export-control policies to buy $38 billion in chipmaking gear from non-U.S. suppliers last year 1.
- That total rose 66% from 2022, when a range of export controls first took effect, so technology still moved through other channels 1.
- One opening centers on deep ultraviolet immersion (DUVi) lithography machines, which can make older “legacy” chips and near-cutting-edge 7-nanometer chips covered by U.S. export controls 2.
- ASML (the Dutch lithography giant) sold 70% of its DUVi lithography systems to Chinese entities in 2024, according to CNAS (the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank). That flow let older-generation tools support advanced chip production at scale 3.
Chinese lithography claims may be overstated, older tools still threaten supply chains
- Reports of Chinese breakthroughs, including new lithography machine prototypes, can run ahead of reality and do not automatically end Western technological dominance 3.
- China’s widely publicized 7-nanometer chips came from deep ultraviolet (DUV) machines stockpiled from ASML before export restrictions, rather than from homegrown lithography leaps 4.
- A nearer worry comes from China’s expanding grip on “legacy” chip output, which underpins cars, appliances, and industrial goods 2.
- That position could give Beijing supply-chain chokepoints and “grind any advanced economy to a halt,” echoing legacy-chip shortages during the COVID-era supply-chain crunch 2.
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