Following years of lobbying from Washington, Japan and the Netherlands agreed on Friday to tighten restrictions on the export of chip manufacturing technology to Chinese companies. News of the agreement was reported by Bloomberg, the Financial Times, and The New York Times.
The controls are designed to limit China’s ability to ramp up its own domestic chip production and come after the Biden administration announced similar restrictions in October 2022. The fear is that easier access to advanced semiconductors will allow China to shore up its military and artificial intelligence capabilities.
There aren’t any plans for a public announcement about the agreement, and it may take “months” for Japan and the Netherlands to “finalize legal…