House panel questions chip manufacturing equipment makers over any ties to China

The top lawmakers on the House China select committee pressed various semiconductor equipment makers on their business sales with China amid growing concerns about the nation’s competitive advancements in chipmaking.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent letters Thursday to five American, Japanese and Dutch firms specializing in producing semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The inquires asked the companies for information on their total revenue from sales to China and a list of the top customers in these transactions.

This information will help the committee “better understand the flow” of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, which they argue boost the nation’s chips supplies to Russia and threaten Taiwan by lessening the impact of U.S. sanctions.

“It will also allow the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to continue to progress in critical fields such as artificial intelligence, which are at the very heart of the strategic competition between the United States and the PRC,” Committee Chair Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and ranking member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) wrote in their inquiries.

Letters were sent to three U.S.-based companies — Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA — along with Dutch equipment maker ASML and Japan-based Tokyo Electron. The Hill reached out to the companies for comment.

All five companies are among the leading firms that produce semiconductor equipment, which in turn assists the production of chips, which fuel artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

“The PRC is now the largest market for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and it is stockpiling the semiconductor manufacturing equipment to bolster its national self-sufficiency in a long-term competition with the United States,” the lawmakers wrote. “Alarming reports show the PRC now purchases more semiconductor manufacturing equipment than the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan combined.”

The letters gave the companies until December 1 to pass over the information on their top customers in China by revenue, a list of U.S. export license applications with the Commerce Department and any data on the volume of SME equipment shipped to China. The lawmakers also asked for the companies’ plans for any new or expanded offshoring of production.

From the White House’s various restrictions on U.S. shipments of semiconductor chips and chipmaking equipment, along with the billions of dollars invested into domestic semiconductor production, the Biden administration has made semiconductor manufacturing a large priority.

The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act set aside $53 billion to increase domestic chip production with hopes of making the U.S. less reliant on foreign supply chains.