A semiconductor industry group on Monday called for a review of the export control policy of former US president Donald Trump’s administration, and urged the incoming US secretary of commerce to work with allies when curbing sales of US technology to China for national security reasons.
SEMI, which represents semiconductor equipment makers and device manufacturers worldwide, said the prior US administration’s unilateral rules had made any potential benefit likely to be less effective over time, had unnecessarily hurt US industry, and had left US exporters vulnerable to retaliation.
In a letter to Gina Raimondo, secretary-designate of the US Department of Commerce, SEMI president Ajit Manocha said the US should coordinate with allies whose companies compete in the global market.
“Multi-lateral controls — where items of concern are controlled by all major producing nations — create a level playing field, maximize effectiveness, and minimize harm to US national security and economic competitiveness,” Manocha wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Increasingly, foreign competitors are marketing goods as “free from US export controls,” Manocha said.
The letter criticizes the Trump administration for implementing rules with little public input and no clear overarching policy, and said the “highly unusual process” resulted in unintended consequences.
It urged Raimondo to quickly correct an August last year rule that expanded US authority over foreign company sales to China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), which unintentionally affected some foreign-made semiconductor production and test equipment.
It also asked US President Joe Biden’s administration to promptly reduce the backlog of license applications, saying delays are de facto denials.
In addition, the letter said rules that restricted sales to more than 100 entities the US linked to the Chinese military went into effect without industry comment.
The tech group suggested that the US work with nations such as Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and the UK to develop common objectives for restricting semiconductor technology to China.
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