“Allowing the industry to have continued access to the China market, the world’s largest commercial market for commodity semiconductors, is important to avoid undermining the positive impact of [the Chips and Science Act],” SIA said in a statement.
The statements by the two industry lobby groups come hot on the heels of media reports that the US is considering an extension of restrictions put in place last October aimed at restricting sales of certain advanced chips and semiconductor equipment to China.
Executives of three SIA members, Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia, are planning to lobby against the new restrictions, according to a Bloomberg report which cited people familiar with the situation.
The US said its chip export restrictions in October were aimed at cutting off supplies of critical technology to China that may be used across sectors including advanced computing and weapons manufacture.
The Chinese government has taken retaliatory measures against US the trade restrictions, including a block on exports of two rare earth metals, germanium and gallium, which are key to the production of semiconductors and other hi-tech products.
CSIA said in its statement that innovation and the flourishing of the semiconductor industry over past decades can be attributed to collaboration between major countries and regions, including mainland China, and the United States.
However, the US government has taken a series of restrictive measures in recent times that have “threatened the globalisation of the semiconductor industry and harmed the interests of global consumers”, according to CSIA.
CSIA said that the group will work with all countries and regions to “safeguard the globalisation of the semiconductor industry” and to assist governments and authorities to facilitate international cooperation in the industry.
