Japan Finally Restricts Export of 23 Semiconductor Manufacturing Technologies To China

Published  April 4, 2023   0
S Staff
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Semiconductor- Geopolitics

The semiconductor industry in China is very well-known for stealing intellectual property and carried out unfair trade practices that negatively impacted the US workforce in China

After several rounds of heated discussions and speculations over the past couple of months, the East Asian country Japan has finally followed the footsteps of Europe and the US in terms of restrictions of international sale of Chinese chip manufacturing equipment and technology. For several months, the US has been undertaking numerous efforts and strategies to convince Japan to increase cracks in the Chinese semiconductor industry. 

Other than this, Japan also officially confirmed to the media that they are banning export of 23 key cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technologies following the same paths of allies like the United States, the EU, the Netherlands and India. According to Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura, the new policy will be effective from July 2023 onwards and now, every export of tech equipment will be requiring approval and permission from the trade ministry. 

According to the Japanese government, the banning of exports is announced keeping in mind the security of the country. Japan’s semiconductors should not be used in China’s defense, feels Japan’s Trade Minister. In an effort to augment national security, the US government on the other hand in October 2022, unleashed a new rule that prevented China based companies from purchasing semiconductor equipment and related technologies from their country. Explaining the scenario, the US government opined that the semiconductor industry in China is very well-known for stealing intellectual property and carried out unfair trade practices that negatively impacted the US workforce in China.

Both China and the US have undertaken numerous strategies to lead the global semiconductor industry and boost their technology industry without taking care of the economic interests, feel experts. A couple of months back, the USA’s export strategy was termed as  "economic coercion and bullying" by the Foreign Minister of China. In a media interaction, Mao Ning, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said, "Weaponizing economic, trade and technology issues to deliberately destabilize the global industry chain will only harm others and harm oneself."

CircuitDigest’s previous exclusive report highlighted that the US is trying hard to pull out the supply chain strengths from China by forming amicable relationships with its allies such as the Netherlands, Japan, Taiwan, and India. The White House has assured India to build its semiconductor industry due to which the latter is expecting to unleash an investment of $25 billion as an incentive scheme.

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