Japan said it will expand restrictions on exports of 23 types of leading-edge chipmaking technology, as the United States ratchets up efforts to limit China’s access to key semiconductor knowhow.
About 10 Japanese companies including leading gearmaker Tokyo Electron would need to get licenses to ship a broader-than-expected array of equipment used to transform silicon into chips, spanning cleaning, deposition, annealing, lithography, etching and testing.
Tokyo’s move follows months of lobbying by the U.S. to get Japan to join it in tightening shipments of semiconductor tools to China. Japan and the Netherlands had agreed in principle to join the U.S., but have sought to chart a middle road between the two superpowers.