Washington, DC [US] December 29 (ANI): A bipartisan investigation by the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (SCCCP) has revealed that main semiconductor manufacturing tools (SME) corporations from the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands have considerably contributed to the growth of China’s semiconductor {industry}, elevating critical nationwide safety considerations, in line with an SCCCP press launch.
The months-long investigation, led by Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Michigan) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois), discovered that corporations together with ASML of the Netherlands, Tokyo Electron (TEL) of Japan, and US-based corporations Applied Materials, KLA, and Lam Research have generated substantial revenues by promoting important tools to Chinese state-owned and military-linked entities.
‘These corporations are large-scale producers of apparatus that China is utilizing to gas its navy ambitions,’ Chairman Moolenaar mentioned, as cited by the SCCCP launch. He warned that corporations have been ‘rising their income on the expense of US nationwide safety,’ including that permitting such tools transfers may trigger the United States to lose the worldwide know-how arms race.
Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi mentioned it was illogical to promote China not solely superior chips but in addition the equipment required to fabricate them domestically. ‘This bipartisan investigation reveals that the dimensions of those gross sales by Dutch, Japanese, and American corporations is much more huge than we realized,’ he mentioned, in line with the discharge.
The committee highlighted putting income figures for 2024, noting that TEL derived 44 % of its income from China, whereas Lam Research earned 42 %, KLA 41 %, and ASML and Applied Materials every acquired 36 % of their income from Chinese clients, as said within the SCCCP press launch.
The investigation additionally discovered that SME corporations continued gross sales to entities with recognized hyperlinks to China’s navy and intelligence equipment. Five corporations designated by the US authorities as posing critical nationwide safety dangers have been recognized as prime clients of SME makers, together with corporations related to Huawei, the committee mentioned.
According to the SCCCP, gross sales to Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have elevated sharply. In 2022, SME corporations bought tools price USD 9.5 billion to PRC SOEs, accounting for 11 % of total income. By 2024, that determine had surged to USD 26.2 billion, representing 27 % of whole income and practically 69 % of PRC-based income.
The investigation additional famous that because the United States imposed export controls, Dutch and Japanese corporations expanded their revenues from Chinese entities. It additionally warned that Beijing seemed to be stockpiling lithography tools slightly below the technical thresholds lined by present export restrictions, in line with the SCCCP launch.
Lawmakers cautioned that China’s semiconductor growth poses a number of threats to US nationwide safety, together with the potential use of superior chips in People’s Liberation Army weapons programs, elevated financial leverage over international provide chains, and the usage of synthetic intelligence and high-performance computing to facilitate human rights abuses and digital authoritarianism.
‘The means to design and produce semiconductors lies on the coronary heart of the know-how competitors with China,’ the committee mentioned, describing SME as a vital chokepoint that the US and its allies should protect somewhat than ‘squander,’ as cited within the launch.
To tackle these dangers, the SCCCP outlined a number of coverage suggestions, together with aligning Dutch and Japanese export controls with US restrictions, increasing country-wide controls on China, widening the checklist of restricted Chinese navy entities, tightening controls on SME elements, and creating a brand new whistleblower export management programme.
The committee additionally known as for elevated sources for the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department, in addition to stronger government-industry coordination to make sure continued US and allied management in semiconductor manufacturing tools.
‘It is much previous time that the toolmakers begin treating the CCP and its nationwide champions as threats to their company longevity, somewhat than as valued clients,’ Chairman Moolenaar and Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi mentioned, as quoted within the SCCCP press launch. (ANI)