On February 9th, members of the important committee of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce, urging the State Department and the Department of Commerce to comprehensively restrict China (CCP) from acquiring advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment and warning that loopholes in export controls are threatening U.S. national security.
The House Select Committee on China website on February 10th released a joint open letter from Chairman John Moolenaar and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The letter calls for the U.S. and its allies to cooperate in restricting CCP access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
The letter stated, “We are writing to express bipartisan support for strengthening export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment (SME) and urge the State Department to actively engage with allies to swiftly address key loopholes in the current control regime.”
It emphasized that export controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment are “one of the most critical leverage points” for the U.S. in strategic competition with the CCP. “These equipment are crucial not only for producing advanced artificial intelligence chips that will shape future economic and military strength but also for manufacturing mature process chips used in PLA weapon systems and intelligence platforms. Maintaining restrictions on these equipment is vital to U.S. national security.”
“The control of SME has been a bipartisan priority for successive administrations. The Trump administration successfully persuaded the Netherlands to restrict the export of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography equipment to China — a decision that remains the most influential key ‘bottleneck’ restriction measure to date. The Biden administration has issued broader new control measures covering more equipment categories and called for allies to cooperate in implementing supplementary controls. This policy continuity reflects bipartisan recognition that protecting U.S. dominance in the semiconductor field is crucial to national security.”
The letter pointed out that the U.S. export control system towards China still has critical loopholes, particularly concerning certain critical bottleneck semiconductor equipment produced abroad, which are only controlled for specific entities within China rather than implementing nationwide restrictions. This is crucial because once the equipment enters China, the U.S. government has almost no way to effectively enforce restrictions on final end use and end users.
“Every piece of critical bottleneck equipment that enters China means the U.S. permanently loses a portion of its strategic leverage.” “While controls on individual entities have value, they cannot replace nationwide restrictions on the most critical bottleneck equipment.”
In recent years, China has significantly accelerated the import of critical bottleneck equipment from foreign countries. The letter listed some recent information: the export of advanced lithography equipment from the Netherlands to China — the most crucial bottleneck in the supply chain — doubled between 2022 and 2023 and doubled again from 2023 to 2024. The Financial Times recently reported that China is upgrading these imported equipment to potentially surpass export control thresholds.
Additionally, China is utilizing key components obtained from the U.S. and allied countries (such as electrostatic chucks) to develop domestic semiconductor manufacturing equipment. If not stopped, China may in the future replace foreign chip manufacturing tools with domestic equipment, rendering U.S. and allied export controls ineffective.
The letter proposed active cooperation between the U.S. and allies to implement nationwide controls on critical bottleneck semiconductor manufacturing equipment and its components for China, restricting all equipment and components that China cannot produce independently.
The letter also requested the U.S. government to provide a briefing within the next month on how it is seeking ally cooperation, promoting nationwide controls on the CCP, and the timeline to achieve this goal.
In addition to Chairmen Moolenaar and Mast, the letter was co-signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chief Democratic Member Gregory Meeks, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chair Bill Huizenga, Chief Democratic Member Sydney Kamlager-Dove, as well as Representatives Greg Stanton, Michael Baumgartner, and Johnny Olszewski.