Netherlands to Present Measures to Limit Exports of Semiconductor Technologies

PARIS (Sputnik) - The Dutch government plans to introduce additional measures to expand control of the exports of semiconductor technologies for security reasons, according to a letter by Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Liesje Schreinemacher.

"I am hereby informing you of the national supplementary export control measures that are being prepared in the area of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment... The Government has concluded that, to ensure national and international security, it is necessary to expand the existing export control on specific semiconductor manufacturing equipment," Schreinemacher's letter to the Dutch House of Representatives (lower house of parliament) says.

She said the government will submit proposals aimed at international testing of these technologies.

Media reported in December 2022 citing sources that Japan and the Netherlands agreed in principle to uphold some US controls on exporting advanced chipmaking machinery to China. The two countries were expected to announce that they will also implement some of the US controls introduced in October on exports of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China. This includes banning the sale of machinery capable of manufacturing 14-nanometer or more advanced chips to China, the report said.

The controls would greatly restrict China’s ability to procure the necessary equipment to make the most advanced chips, as they would bring the two other critical suppliers — Japan’s Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Dutch lithography company ASML Holding NV — into the US fold.

While the 14-nanometer is not the leading technology on the market, it is the second most advanced technology that China’s leading semiconductor manufacturer can make.