It has been confirmed that the United States has included Macau in its list of cutting-edge semiconductor chip exports and technology controls related to artificial intelligence and supercomputers, Chinese economic media Caixin reported.



The U.S. Department of Commerce announced on October 7 last year that only China and Hong Kong were applied to the export control measures for the Chinese semiconductor industry, but on the 17th it was announced that it would be expanded to Macau.



The United States has been strengthening its control over the semiconductor sector in order to check China's high-tech competitiveness, and on October 7 last year, the US Department of Commerce announced two new export controls targeting China.



The Ministry of Commerce required permission to export high-performance AI learning semiconductors and certain semiconductor chips used in China's supercomputers to China.



To this end, the scope of control has been expanded for 28 companies already included in the export control list, and 31 companies have not yet been added to the export control list, but have been added to the unverified list, which means objects of interest.



To this measure, the 'Overseas Directly Produced Product Rule' was applied, which prohibits exports of semiconductors made in countries other than the United States if they use US-made software, equipment, or technology.



Xingmu also effectively banned U.S. companies from exporting semiconductor equipment to Chinese companies that produce DRAM under 18 nanometers, NAND flash with 128 or more layers, and logic chips under 14 nanometers.



Because of this, China has been trying to find a detour through Macau, a special administrative region, but this action by the US Department of Commerce has made it impossible.



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(Photo = Chinese Caixin capture, Yonhap News)