Tech war: US Congress rolls out ‘largest’ export control upgrade against China

US lawmakers have advanced 20 new export control measures – including the controversial Match Act – to further restrict Chinese access to US technology and bar Chinese chipmakers from gaining access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

In the latest salvo in the US-China tech war, the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday passed the measures through the committee stage to be deliberated by the rest of the House, describing the action as the “largest significant export control mark-up in the history of Congress”.

“China has made it abundantly clear that it intends to dominate the technologies that underpin both our economy and our national defence,” said Republican Representative Michael Baumgartner. “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.”

The Match Act proposed by Baumgartner, which stands for Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware, would require US allies such as Japan and the Netherlands to more closely align with US restrictions on selling advanced semiconductor equipment to China, such as Dutch firm ASML’s deep ultraviolet (DUV) immersion lithography machines.

Introduced in early April, the initial bill raised alarm among industry players both in the US and in allied countries over concerns that the new expansive restrictions would hurt sales.

Some of the restrictions were rolled back before Wednesday’s vote, including a countrywide ban on selling cryogenic etching tools for making chips to China, though restrictions on DUV machine exports remained, according to a Reuters report.

“This bill would address one of the gravest issues we face today, by limiting China’s access to the most critical machines and parts needed to make advanced chips,” said Brian Mast, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, on Wednesday.