Bill to ban sale of key AI chipmaking equipment to China introduced in House
The MATCH Act would tighten existing restrictions on a critical choke point for the AI industry, banning exports of certain manufacturing tools across China. A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in the House of Representatives on Thursday morning that would severely limit the sale of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China and a selection of other countries, closing what experts say are critical loopholes in America’s AI export controls.
Led by Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware (MATCH) Act would tighten existing export controls for semiconductor manufacturing equipment — the specialized tools used to create AI chips — if it were to become law. The new restrictions, along with cooperation from allies to implement similar rules, would be likely to curtail China’s ability to build a fully domestic AI supply chain.
China’s imports of semiconductor manufacturing machinery have surged in recent years in tandem with soaring demand for AI chips in China and around the globe. China's imports of the equipment grew from $10.7 billion in 2016 to about $51.1 billion last year, according to analysis from Silverado Policy Accelerator, a Washington, D.C., think tank that focuses on national security and AI. “China has made it abundantly clear that it intends to dominate the technologies that underpin both our economy and our national defense,” Baumgartner said in a statement. “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 act would expand the types of chipmaking machines that are banned from being sold to China, further restrict sales of associated services and tools to China’s most important chip companies and engage key allies to implement similarly stringent restrictions to ensure the new rules have global force. “This is about protecting American workers, American innovation, and American security for the long haul,” Baumgartner said.
The bill, co-sponsored by the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Calif., is the latest move in a yearslong push from officials and experts in Washington to limit the sale of chipmaking machines to China. Export controls on the sale of finished AI chips have also been
, although the Trump administration has recently
to China. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., are set to introduce a similar bill in the Senate when it is next in session.
A handful of companies make the cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing equipment needed to produce today’s leading AI chips, and most of them are based in the U.S., the Netherlands and Japan. As a result, semiconductor manufacturing equipment is a critical lever and source of power for the U.S. and its allies in the race to build powerful AI systems. “China has a stated intent to indigenize its semiconductor industry in the coming years, and what it lacks is the technology and the knowledge to produce the most advanced chips,” said Sarah Stewart, CEO of Silverado Policy Accelerator. “The United States, Japan, the Netherlands and a pocketful of other countries do have that knowledge.”
Chinese leaders have repeatedly singled out chip manufacturing as a pivotal issue for national security. In April,
China should pursue “self-reliance and self-strengthening” for the country’s AI sector and called for renewed “focus on overcoming challenges regarding core technologies such as high-end chips.” Despite years of similar calls from top Chinese officials and
to create their own chipmaking machines, China’s domestic chipmaking industry remains years behind American, Dutch and Japanese chipmaking abilities, according to experts.
Jeff Koch, a semiconductor manufacturing analyst at SemiAnalysis, a leading AI and chip research firm, said China’s industry lags “more than five years behind in terms of the equipment they’re able to produce” compared with leading Western companies. Chip designers and manufacturers try to squeeze as much computing power as possible onto each individual chip, fabricated on silicon wafers in a manufacturing process that relies on highly specialized equipment and requires thousands of intricate steps.
One part of the chipmaking process, called lithography, in which fine circuit patterns are transferred to silicon wafers, largely relies on machines from the Netherlands-based company ASML, according to
from the House Select Committee on China. The U.S. has already implemented a China-wide export ban on the most advanced type of lithography machines, called extreme ultraviolet immersion lithography (EUV), that can manufacture the world’s most advanced AI chips. In May, then-
the countrywide restrictions preventing any company within China from obtaining an EUV machine were the “single most important export control” related to AI.
However, previous rounds of export controls allowed sales of older, lower-grade machines that perform deep ultraviolet immersion lithography (DUV), which are capable of manufacturing very advanced — but not the most advanced — chips.
China has acquired hundreds of DUV machines from ASML over the past several years, and China was
, representing 36% of net system sales, according to ASML’s figures. With those machines, Chinese chip manufacturers like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. can
of AI chips.
Experts like Stewart of Silverado argue that without stronger controls like those proposed in the bill, DUV tools could allow China to overcome restrictions on its ability to buy the highest-quality chips by simply creating more chips of lower quality, which could yield the same overall amount of computing power.
“If we are giving them the ability to scale technology just behind the cutting edge, we are doing as much of a disservice as we are if we just give them the most advanced manufacturing technology,” Stewart said.
At a minimum, the MATCH Act would enact a China-wide ban on the export of DUV machines and tools required to etch the pattern drawn by the machines. The act would also direct the secretary of state and officials in the Commerce Department to identify other critical "chokepoints" within 60 days after the bill's passage.
The bill would apply the same countrywide restrictions to other countries of concern, including Russia and Iran, though China’s AI industry stands out as the obvious target, according to experts.
