The US seeks not just to block China's access to advanced chip making tech, it wants to ban servicing on the equipment it already has

HardwareThe US seeks not just to block China’s access to advanced chip making tech, it wants to ban servicing on the equipment it already hasWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: TSMC)

TSMC wafer in manufacturing

There’s a new development just about every other day on the seemingly ever escalating tech war between China and the US. The latest development is a request from the US government to Dutch-based ASML that it stop servicing advanced chip making equipment the firm has sold to China.

ASML is already banned from selling extreme ultraviolet (EUV) anddeep ultraviolet (DUV)lithography machines to China.

China is ASML’s third largest market after Taiwan and South Korea. The issue is complicated as many companies, including TSMC and SK Hynix, have plants in China, so sanctions are expected to target individual Chinese chip makers, with exceptions for companies with acceptable licenses.

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Despite ongoing efforts to hobble the capabilities of Chinese chip makers, theTaipei Timesreports that such efforts haven’t had a critical impact as of yet. Chinese manufacturers have shown resilience and are continuing efforts to insulate themselves from escalating sanctions.

Paul Triolo, a senior associate with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: “The cutting-off of servicing is going to inexorably degrade the capabilities of that equipment. And so the manufacturer will be fighting a sort of rearguard action to keep those machines going as long as possible.”

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Should the servicing ban come into effect, it won’t be received well. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian previously labeled such moves as examples of"technological terrorism."

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