As the United States, the Netherlands and Japan iron out the last details of a vast agreement to limit the export of chip machines to China, industry analysts remain concerned about the situation.

This is because a representative of several manufacturers believes that the measures may not be tough enough against Beijing. SEMI, the association of semiconductor companies, said it had an interest in strengthening US national security.

However, the regulation proposed by the Biden government provides that the restrictions that will be imposed by allied countries will not be as powerful as the control that will be carried out by Washington.

Even if Japan, the Netherlands and other allies adopt restrictions on specific tools, they will be largely ineffective unless international partners agree to broader controls over Chinese factories that produce advanced chips.

SEMI also urges allies to adopt even tougher measures, preventing western engineers from collaborating with Chinese companies.

Without the additional restrictions, advanced semiconductor production in China could still take place with existing equipment, Chinese-made equipment and other uncontrolled items with the benefit of know-how and services from outside the US.

The SEMI representative also noted that the share of chip machine companies from the US has dropped a lot in the Chinese market, as Chinese manufacturers have opted for technology from the Netherlands, for example.

In addition, many Chinese companies have pre-empted the restrictions by buying large batches of chip-making equipment over the past two years.

these lost sales [por empresas dos EUA] went to countries that until then were not applying sanctions against China. This diverted billions of dollars in sales that should have gone to US companies.