Official confirms US wants servicing of Chinese chip gear restricted (update)

The US government is leaning on allies to impose additional restrictions on chip equipment makers. Following a report last month, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez confirmed to Bloomberg that Washington wants to impose limits on maintenance and servicing of chip gear already installed at Chinese companies. “We are pushing for not servicing these key components, so these are discussions we’re having with our allies,” Estevez said. The ban wouldn’t include parts that Chinese firms would be able to repair themselves.

Washington has already forbidden US equipment makers to service equipment installed at blacklisted Chinese firms. The Netherlands and Japan so far haven’t implemented similar bans. Last year, when the Dutch government apparently didn’t give in to diplomatic pressure, the US went ahead and imposed restrictions of its own on lithography technology. This measure prevents ASML from selling the NXT:1980 DUV immersion scanner to a number of limited of Chinese companies. This is on top of a blanket ban for more advanced immersion systems.

Update: Reuters reports that Undersecretary Estevez will meet with Dutch officials on Monday 8 April to discuss equipment servicing contracts. The Dutch Foreign Ministry has confirmed the meeting but not the topics on the agenda.