Chips are displayed at the exhibition area of Central China's Hubei province of the second China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, China, Nov 27, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]
The Trump administration is working on more ways to restrict China's semiconductor industry, according to a published report.
The plan includes putting pressure on US allies to restrict China's chip businesses, according to the report Monday by Bloomberg News.
Administration officials recently met with Japanese and Dutch officials on the sidelines of a summit in Japan about restricting Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASML Holding NV engineers from maintaining semiconductor equipment in China, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The objective, which also was a priority for the Biden administration, is to see key allies follow limits that the United States has placed on American chip-gear companies, including Applied Materials Inc, KLA Corp and Lam Research Corp.
"China has repeatedly expressed its firm stance against the US' malicious blockade and suppression of China's semiconductor sector," Lin Jian, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday.
"The US has been politicizing and weaponizing trade and technology issues, overstretching the concept of national security while continuing to strengthen its chip export controls to China and coercing other countries to suppress China's semiconductor industry.
"This has impeded the development of the global semiconductor industry and will ultimately backfire," Lin said.
It could be months before any new US regulations are announced, as President Donald Trump makes staffing decisions at federal agencies; and there also is the question whether allies will be more receptive to the change in leadership in Washington, Bloomberg reported.
Some in the administration also are looking to further restrict what kind of Nvidia Corp chips can be exported to China without a license, Bloomberg News has reported.
They're also discussing tightening existing curbs on the quantity of AI chips that can be exported globally without a license, the report said.
Phil Blancato, chief executive officer of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, said the news report was "adding to this matrix of new worries that haven't been in the market before this, and if Nvidia can't put up another gigantic number just to sustain its current price, the market is ripe for a selloff".
The quarterly earnings results due Wednesday for tech giant Nvidia, based in Santa Clara, California, will be crucial for technology companies as investors question the industry's massive spending on artificial-intelligence after competition — at far lower costs — from China's DeepSeek rattled markets in January.
At the same time, Chinese companies are ramping up orders for Nvidia's H20 artificial intelligence chip due to booming demand for DeepSeek's low-cost AI models, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Alibaba, ByteDance — the owner of TikTok — and Tencent have "significantly increased" their orders of the H20 — a chip specific to China due to US export controls.
The new administration is also considering curbs on sales of those particular chips, Bloomberg has reported. Some of former president Joe Biden's National Security Council officials wanted to impose those stricter measures before he left office, but then-Commerce Department secretary Gina Raimondo declined.
"With Nvidia now having less access to her main market, she will get less money for the necessary R&D. In other words, Nvidia's ability to come up with new products may come under pressure," posted "MXHeritage" on X.com.
In December, Zhang Meifang posted to her 170,000 followers on X: "China's annual chip exports exceed RMB1 trillion. When the US stops selling chips, the Chinese start making their own a lot more. Could be bad news for American semiconductor companies."
"Trump's chip play is a high-stakes geopolitical chess match," wrote "kautious" on X. "China is fast-tracking its own semiconductor surge — and Taiwan's tech crown is at risk. This isn't America's golden age; it's a wild tariff gamble that could hand key bargaining chips to Beijing, sending ripples through global markets. Buckle up, Wall Street — the tech tug-of-war has just entered overdrive."
Agencies contributed to this story.
