U.S. Bans Export of Tech Used in 3nm Node Chip Production
The U.S. is imposing controls, possibly aimed at China, on the export of technology, which is “vital to national security.”
Just a week after the U.S. government legislated a $52 billion stimulus and took other concrete steps to incentivize domestic semiconductor manufacturing, it is now imposing controls, possibly aimed at China, on the export of technology, which is “vital to national security.”
On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the ban on four semiconductor manufacturing technologies.
These include gallium oxide and diamond-based substrates of ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors, electronic computer-aided design (ECAD) software used in the development of integrated circuits with gate-all-around field-effect transistor (GAAFET) structure, pressure-gain combustion (PGC) technology used in rockets and other hypersonic systems.
BIS explained that semiconductors that use gallium oxide and diamond are more durable under strenuous conditions and can operate at higher voltages and higher temperatures, thus making them suitable for military applications.
Similarly, ECAD offers design, analysis, and optimization capabilities for complex ICs used in military and aerospace defense systems. GAAFET technology enables faster, energy-efficient and more radiation-tolerant ICs and is key to scaling to 3 nm and below technology nodes.
The export controls on these four technologies were applied under Section 1758 of the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA), which was amended in May 2022, regarding what constitutes an emerging technology and what is a foundational technology.
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They are also subject to the Wassenaar Arrangement, an arms control agreement between 42 countries to exchange information on transfers/sale of conventional weapons and dual-use goods and technologies and to limit the export to non-Wassenaar countries.
Thea Rozman Kendler, assistant secretary of commerce for Export Administration, said, “We are protecting the four technologies identified in today’s rule from nefarious end use by applying controls through a multilateral regime.”
“This rule demonstrates our continued commitment to imposing export controls together with our international partners. Export controls are most effective when multilaterally imposed,” she added.
Strategically, the U.S. should have curbed the export of these sensitive technologies a long time ago, given China’s potential military threat to Taiwan and economic threat to the U.S.
Existing sanctions have hammered China’s telecom and hardware giant, Huawei, into posting its maiden annual revenue decline (down ~28%) in 2021. The sanctions on Huawei were imposed in 2019 under the Donald Trump administration.
This indicates that non-members of the Wassenaar Arrangement, most notably China, won’t be immediately impacted. However, it can cripple their production-readiness for advanced process nodes and other weapons and aviation systems.
South Korea’s Samsung began production of the 3nm node using GAA architecture in June. South Korea is a member of the Wassenaar Arrangement and a U.S. ally.
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