The Biden administration is working to further tighten restrictions on the export of semiconductor manufacturing gear to China, escalating rules aimed at preventing the country from developing an advanced chip industry.
The government has briefed U.S. companies about the plan, telling them that it expects to announce the new restrictions as early as next month, according to people familiar with the situation. The rules may as much as double the number of machines that require special licenses for export, creating fresh hurdles for makers of the equipment such as Applied Materials Inc., said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
The move would further upend a chipmaking industry that’s already coping with rules imposed in October. Those restrictions required export licenses for certain machines and limited U.S. citizens from working in China and other countries that could pose a threat to national security. There are also provisions limiting the support or sale of technology for specific types of products.