The U.S. government is pressuring its allies, including the Netherlands, Germany, South Korea and Japan, to further tighten restrictions on China’s access to semiconductor technology. Bloomberg writes about this, citing knowledgeable sources who say that not all countries support the insistence of American officials.

The report stated that the latest move by the US president’s administration aims to close loopholes in export controls that have been gradually tightened over the past two years, as well as restricting China’s ability to develop domestic chip production. For example, the United States called on the Netherlands to ban ASML Holding NV from servicing and repairing chip-making equipment purchased by Chinese customers before the ban on sales of such equipment to China went into effect. The United States is also pressing Japanese companies to limit exports to China of specialty chemicals needed to make chips, including photoresist, the largest producers of which are based in Japan.

The report stated that the Netherlands and Japan reacted calmly to the pressure from US officials and stated that they wanted to evaluate the impact of the restrictions currently in force before considering tougher measures. The issue of tightening restrictions was raised by U.S. Commerce Department representatives at an export control meeting in Tokyo last month, according to a source familiar with the matter. Representatives from ASML, the Dutch Ministry of Commerce, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Commerce and the US National Security Council have so far declined to comment on the matter.

The US president’s administration aims to increase restrictive measures on the Chinese semiconductor industry starting in 2022. But gaps still remain. This is especially true of the fact that Chinese companies, as before, use the services of Japanese and Dutch engineers for the repair of semiconductor equipment, and also have the opportunity to purchase spare parts for such machines.

The message also stated that the USA wants to include more countries in the technological blockade against China. U.S. officials are pushing Germany and South Korea to impose restrictions similar to those already in place in Japan and the Netherlands. This is despite the presence of major component manufacturers for the semiconductor industry in all four countries. In Germany, one of the most important manufacturers in this field is Carl Zeiss AG, a specialist manufacturer of optical components, which supplies its products to ASML.

The United States wants German officials to pressure Zeiss to stop supplying optical components for semiconductor equipment to China. The United States also held talks with South Korea regarding export controls on chips and spare parts for chip manufacturing equipment. According to the source, representatives of the two countries initiated a structured dialogue on this issue last month.