American lawmakers have introduced a legislation that would restrict the sale of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China as the country attempts to slow Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions, a report has said. The bill, introduced in the House of Representatives on Thursday (April 2), targets the highly specialised machines used to make sophisticated chips
What is MATCH Act
The legislation is called the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware (MATCH) Act, and it is led by Representative Michael Baumgartner, with co-sponsorship from Representative John Moolenaar (R-California), chairman of the House Select Committee on China. If passed, the act will expand the categories of chipmaking machines banned from sale to China, tighten restrictions on associated services and software sold to China’s most important chip companies.
Why this matters
According to a report by NBCNews, China’s imports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment have increased in recent years, growing from $10.7 billion in 2016 to approximately $51.1 billion last year even as there’s a ban on highly-sophisticated AI chips on the country, according to analysis from the Silverado Policy Accelerator, a Washington think tank focused on national security and AI.That surge reflects Beijing’s determined push to build a fully domestic AI supply chain so that it does not have to depend on foreign chips. By acquiring the machines that make chips, China aims to eventually manufacture its own cutting-edge semiconductors at home, bypassing the restrictions Washington has already placed on finished chip exports.“China has made it abundantly clear that it intends to dominate the technologies that underpin both our economy and our national defense. The United States cannot afford to leave open back doors that allow the Chinese Communist Party to acquire the tools it needs to leap ahead in semiconductor manufacturing,” Baumgartner said.Washington has already imposed a China-wide ban on the most advanced form of chip-manufacturing technology – machines that perform extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), the process used to manufacture the world’s most cutting-edge AI chips. In May last year, former White House AI adviser David Sacks called this ban the “single most important export control” related to AI.However, previous rounds of restrictions left a significant gap. Older machines using deep ultraviolet immersion lithography (DUV), capable of producing very advanced, if not the most advanced, chips.Only a handful of companies in the world manufacture the specialised machines needed to produce today’s leading AI chips. Most are based in just three countries: the United States, the Netherlands and Japan, giving Washington and its allies leverage over the global semiconductor supply chain.
