China opposes revised U.S. chip export restriction

China has expressed strong opposition to the latest U.S. revised rules on artificial intelligence (AI) chips export rules, saying that it will disrupt the international semiconductor market as well as cooperation among enterprises.

The remarks were made by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Sunday, noting that U.S.' latest revision of semiconductor export controls came less than six months since the U.S. introduced the rule.

The Biden administration on Friday (U.S. time) revised rules aimed at making it harder for China to gain access to U.S. AI chips and chipmaking tools, as part of the U.S. efforts to curb China's chipmaking industry over "national security concerns."

The new rules, which run 166 pages, will go into effect on April 4, and they expand the restrictions to laptops containing those AI chips, Reuters reported.

Enterprises from all countries, including those from the U.S., want a stable and predictable business environment, said the MOFCOM.

The abuse by the U.S. of national security concepts, reckless modification of rules and tightening of control measures have not only set up more obstacles to normal economic and trade cooperation between Chinese and U.S. enterprises and imposed a heavier burden for compliance, but also created huge uncertainty for the global semiconductor industry, the MOFCOM noted.

The revision of the U.S. chip export rules has seriously affected the mutually beneficial cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises and harmed their legitimate and lawful rights and interests, said the MOFCOM, reaffirming that China strongly opposed the revision.

In October 2023, the U.S. initially introduced an export restriction on related chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, seeking to halt shipments of more advanced AI chips designed by Nvidia and other companies.

The MOFCOM said that the semiconductor industry is highly globalized, and has formed an industrial pattern that involves multiple parties, thanks to the law of the market and corporate choices.

The MOFCOM stressed that China is the world's largest semiconductor market, and it is willing to work with all parties to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and promote the security and stability of the global semiconductor industry chain.