US Floats Tougher Trade Curbs in Chip Crackdown on China
美国提出更严厉的贸易限制措施以打击中国芯片市场

The Biden administration, facing pushback to its chip crackdown on China, has told allies that it’s considering using the most severe trade restrictions available if companies such as Tokyo Electron Ltd. and ASML Holding NV continue giving the country access to advanced semiconductor technology.
拜登政府对中国的芯片打压政策面临反弹，他已告知盟友，如果东京电子有限公司（Tokyo Electron Ltd.）和ASML Holding NV等公司继续向中国提供先进的半导体技术，拜登政府将考虑采取最严厉的贸易限制措施。

Seeking leverage with allies, the US is mulling whether to impose a measure called the foreign direct product rule, or FDPR, said people familiar with recent discussions. The rule lets the country impose controls on foreign-made products that use even the tiniest amount of American technology.
熟悉最近讨论情况的人士说，为了向盟国施加影响，美国正在酝酿是否实施一项名为外国直接产品规则（FDPR）的措施。该规则允许美国对使用哪怕是最微量美国技术的外国制造产品实施管制。

Such a step — seen by allies as draconian — would be used to clamp down on business in China by Japan’s Tokyo Electron and the Netherlands’ ASML, which make chipmaking machinery that’s vital to the industry. The US is presenting the idea to officials in Tokyo and the Hague as an increasingly likely outcome if the countries don’t tighten their own China measures, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
这种被盟国视为严厉的措施将被用来打击日本东京电子和荷兰ASML公司在中国的业务，这两家公司生产的芯片制造设备对中国的芯片制造业至关重要。据不愿透露姓名的人士称，美国正在向东京和海牙的官员提出这一想法，如果这两个国家不收紧自己的对华措施，那么结果将越来越有可能发生。

Shares in Tokyo Electron fell as much as 8% in the afternoon, leading a drop in Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average. Fellow chip gear providers including Lasertec Corp. and Screen Holdings Co. also ranked among the market’s biggest decliners.
东京电子股价下午下跌达 8%，领跌日本日经 225 指数。包括 Lasertec Corp. 和 Screen Holdings Co. 在内的其他芯片设备供应商也在市场跌幅榜上名列前茅。

The administration is in a tenuous position. US companies feel that restrictions on exports to China have unfairly punished them and are pushing for changes. Allies, meanwhile, see little reason to alter their policies when the US presidential election is just a few months away.
政府的处境十分脆弱。美国公司认为，对华出口限制不公平地惩罚了它们，因此正在推动改革。与此同时，美国的盟友们认为，在距离美国总统大选只有几个月的时候，没有什么理由改变他们的政策。

The goal is to persuade allies, who have already restricted some shipments of key equipment, to limit their companies’ ability to service and repair restricted gear that’s already in China — which US firms are barred from doing. The US is also weighing additional sanctions on specific Chinese chip companies, Bloomberg reported earlier.
其目的是说服已经限制部分关键设备运输的盟国，限制其公司为已在中国的受限设备提供服务和维修的能力--美国公司被禁止这样做。据彭博社早前报道，美国还在考虑对特定的中国芯片公司实施额外制裁。

A representative for ASML declined to comment on the discussions, which have involved the National Security Council and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. A Tokyo Electron spokeswoman said the company wasn’t in a position to comment on “geopolitical issues.”
ASML的一位代表拒绝对讨论发表评论，国家安全委员会和美国商务部工业与安全局参与了讨论。东京电子的一位女发言人说，该公司不便对 "地缘政治问题 "发表评论。

A spokesperson for the NSC, which advises the president on security matters, said the characterization of the meetings “does not reflect the discussions we are having with our partners and allies.” A representative for BIS didn’t have an immediate comment.
负责就安全事务向总统提供建议的国家安全委员会发言人说，对这些会议的描述 "并不反映我们与合作伙伴和盟友正在进行的讨论"。国际清算银行的代表没有立即发表评论。

The prospect of stricter trade rules would suggest that attempts to form a unified front against China’s chip ambitions have fallen short. The US imposed sweeping restrictions on the sale of advanced chips and manufacturing gear to China in October 2022 — and tightened those measures one year later — as part of a campaign to prevent Beijing from gaining cutting-edge technology that could boost its military.
更严格贸易规则的前景表明，针对中国芯片野心组建统一战线的努力已经失败。2022 年 10 月，美国对向中国出售先进芯片和制造设备实施了全面限制--一年后又收紧了这些措施--以此作为防止中国获得可促进其军事发展的尖端技术的行动的一部分。

Those rules have had a far-reaching impact. They’ve taken a quantifiable toll on Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., making it harder for them to get key supplies and equipment.
这些规定影响深远。它们给华为技术有限公司和中芯国际集成电路制造有限公司等中国公司造成了可量化的损失，使它们更难获得关键的供应和设备。

But the policies have also cost American companies billions of dollars in revenue. The US chip industry argues that it has shouldered an unfairly large part of the burden, and that there needs to be more allied cooperation to prevent China from finding ways around the existing controls.
但这些政策也让美国公司损失了数十亿美元的收入。美国芯片业认为，它承担了不公平的大部分负担，需要更多的盟国合作，以防止中国找到绕过现有管制的方法。

Applied Materials Inc., Lam Research Corp. and KLA Corp. — the three biggest American makers of chip equipment — have been pressing their case in a series of recent meetings with US officials, according to people familiar with the situation. They have argued that current trade policies are backfiring, damaging American semiconductor companies while failing to halt Chinese progress as much as the US government hoped.
据熟悉内情的人士透露，美国三大芯片设备制造商--应用材料公司（Applied Materials Inc）、Lam Research Corp.他们认为，当前的贸易政策适得其反，损害了美国的半导体公司，却未能像美国政府希望的那样阻止中国的进步。

But the companies don’t want the administration to use FDPR. They fear it will provoke Japan and the Netherlands to become defiant and stop cooperating. Businesses around the world also would have greater incentive to scrub American products from their supply chains in order to avoid the new restrictions.
但是，这些公司并不希望政府使用 FDPR。他们担心这会激怒日本和荷兰，使其变得挑衅并停止合作。世界各地的企业也会有更大的动力从其供应链中剔除美国产品，以规避新的限制。

Government officials in Tokyo have already said they wouldn’t enforce such an effort, according to some of the people. A representative for Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry declined to comment, as did the Dutch foreign trade ministry. Representatives from Applied Materials, Lam and KLA also declined to comment.
据一些人说，东京的政府官员已经表示，他们不会执行这样的努力。日本经济产业省的一位代表拒绝发表评论，荷兰外贸部也拒绝发表评论。应用材料公司、Lam 公司和 KLA 公司的代表也拒绝发表评论。

An alternative step being pushed by the US chip industry would be expanding the criteria for what’s called the unverified list — a framework that requires firms to seek licenses to ship certain restricted technology. The US companies aren’t suggesting that ASML and Tokyo Electron be automatically added to the list; rather, the move would signal that they could face controls if they continue serving Chinese customers that the US has deemed a national security risk.
美国芯片行业正在推动的另一项措施是扩大所谓的 "未核查名单 "的标准--这一框架要求企业在运输某些受限制的技术时必须获得许可。这些美国公司并不建议将ASML和东京电子自动列入名单；相反，此举将表明，如果它们继续为美国认为存在国家安全风险的中国客户提供服务，就可能面临管制。

Even that is causing a furor. People familiar with ASML’s thinking said the policy could spark a diplomatic crisis between the Hague and Washington. Tokyo Electron, meanwhile, asked Japanese officials to preemptively push back against the plan, another person said. And the company wants assurances that ASML would also be covered by any decision.
即便如此，也引起了轩然大波。熟悉 ASML 想法的人士说，这项政策可能会引发海牙与华盛顿之间的外交危机。与此同时，东京电子要求日本官员先发制人地反击这一计划。该公司希望得到保证，ASML 也将受到任何决定的保护。

But there’s a growing clamor in the US for more action. In a bill that recently cleared the House Appropriations Committee, lawmakers directed the Bureau of Industry and Security to take up the unverified list idea. “The committee is concerned by reports that foreign entities in allied nations continue to take advantage of US export controls and US efforts to counter malign acquisition of advanced technology,” the proposal reads.
但美国国内要求采取更多行动的呼声日益高涨。在众议院拨款委员会最近通过的一项法案中，立法者指示工业与安全局着手处理未经核查清单的想法。"有报告称，盟国的外国实体继续利用美国的出口管制和美国打击恶意获取先进技术的努力，委员会对此表示担忧，"提案中写道。

That allegation — that foreign businesses have taken advantage of US rules — is exactly the complaint that Lam, KLA and Applied Materials have put before officials at BIS and the NSC. They argue that Chinese chipmakers have been getting around the need for US machinery by relying on equipment and engineers from other countries, according to people familiar with the meetings.
这一指控--外国企业利用了美国的规则--正是Lam公司、KLA公司和应用材料公司向BIS和NSC官员提出的抱怨。据熟悉这些会议的人士称，他们认为中国芯片制造商一直在通过依赖其他国家的设备和工程师来规避对美国机器的需求。

Case in point, the companies say, is Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., China’s most advanced maker of memory chips. YMTC was blacklisted by the US in 2022 after intense lobbying from American memory-chip maker Micron Technology Inc. The Chinese company felt an immediate blow and was forced to lay off 10% of its workforce within two months of the controls taking effect.
这两家公司说，中国最先进的存储芯片制造商扬子江存储科技有限公司就是一个典型的例子。在美国存储芯片制造商美光科技公司的大力游说下，扬子江存储技术公司于 2022 年被美国列入黑名单。这家中国公司立即受到打击，在管制措施生效后两个月内被迫裁员 10%。

But the chipmaker is still making progress on advancing its technology, the US companies say. Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone uses YMTC chips, Bloomberg has reported, in a step toward a fully Chinese supply chain.
但美国公司表示，这家芯片制造商仍在推进其技术进步。据彭博社报道，华为的最新旗舰智能手机采用了 YMTC 芯片，向完全中国供应链迈出了一步。

Lam, KLA and Applied Materials are hoping that a handful of independent reports will help bolster their case. A Barclays Plc note in November said that export controls “seem to be fighting a losing battle, at least for now.”
Lam公司、KLA公司和应用材料公司都希望一些独立报告能帮助支持他们的观点。巴克莱银行（Barclays Plc）11 月份的一份报告称，出口管制 "似乎正在打一场败仗，至少目前是这样"。

And then in April, an analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that US export controls cost affected American suppliers a total of $130 billion in market capitalization.
今年 4 月，纽约联邦储备银行的一项分析发现，美国的出口管制使受影响的美国供应商损失了总计 1 300 亿美元的市值。

The inability of suppliers to find alternative customers may “harm the very same firms whose technology US export controls are trying to protect,” the report said.
报告说，供应商无法找到替代客户可能 "损害美国出口管制试图保护其技术的公司"。