Call for broader bans after US probe finds China bought $49b in chipmaking gear

US lawmakers are calling for broader bans on chipmaking equipment to China after a bipartisan investigation found that Chinese chipmakers had purchased US$38 billion (S$49 billion) of sophisticated gear in 2024.

- 

Inconsistencies in rules issued by the US, Japan and the Netherlands have led to non-US chip equipment manufacturers selling to some Chinese firms that US companies could not, according to a report published on Oct 7 by the US House of Representatives Select Committee on China.

The committee called for broader bans by the US and its allies on chipmaking tool sales to China, rather than narrower bans on sales to specific Chinese chipmakers.

The US$38 billion was purchased from five top semiconductor manufacturing equipment suppliers, without breaking the law, a 66 per cent increase from 2022, when many of the tool export restrictions were introduced.

That accounted for nearly 39 per cent of the aggregate sales of Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, ASML and Tokyo Electron, the report found.