Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo had a sobering message for U.S. makers of chipmaking equipment this week: you’ll need to wait as long as nine months before Washington can reach an accord with U.S. allies over strict new rules aimed at restricting China’s access to certain technologies.
The U.S. is working on an agreement that would make companies in the Netherlands and Japan — home to some of the biggest makers of chipmaking gear — subject to limits on sales of such equipment to China. U.S. companies are already bound by the export controls, which they say will cost them billions of dollars in revenue even as their main competitors in Europe and Japan face fewer limits on China sales.
Reaching the accord, aimed at leveling the playing field, could take six to nine months, Raimondo told representatives of the U.S. companies, according to people with direct knowledge of the meeting.