United States initiates fresh initiative to control China’s sophisticated chip manufacturing

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Regarding potential retaliation from China, the Chinese authorities could explore numerous avenues. “Anticipating China imposing additional limitations on the rare earth minerals and other fundamental materials crucial for semiconductor development is advisable for the US and its allies to impede further progress and facilitate China’s catch-up despite constraints,” Tsukerman mentioned.

Of greater significance, Tsukerman highlighted that concentrating solely on China could present challenges, given that these chip supplies are also obtainable from multiple other nations. “Relying on cooperation solely with the Netherlands and Japan to obstruct China’s access to equipment proves to be inadequate. China has benefited from lax import-export regulations in nations willing to supply such equipment manufactured with Dutch, Japanese, and/or joint US involvement to China, yielding the same outcomes. The coalition must collaboratively act to eliminate ambiguous areas, perhaps resorting to secondary sanctions against nations eager to supply such equipment,” Tsukerman recommended. “At present, the production of chipmaking equipment is predominantly led by the US-associated coalition. It is just a matter of time before other nations enhance their capabilities, with BRICS constituents serving as a prime illustration,” she added, alluding to the intergovernmental organization established by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and later expanded to encompass Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

According to Tsukerman, the recent attempts by the US to engage with India could be a positive step, “India might still play a constructive role in chipmaking production for any of the extended BRICS members in several other ways. Meanwhile, these limitations evidently do not affect any of the other members, including Saudi Arabia, which is committing significant resources to establish a regional semiconductor hub and might obtain China’s support in return for supplying them with such equipment.”

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AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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