The United States adjusts its bill on Chinese chip equipment: ASML DUV lithography machines are still restricted and the use of SMIC, Changjiang Changxin, etc. is prohibited.

The U.S. "MATCH Act" targeting China's semiconductor industry has been revised.The new version of the bill reduces the radical restrictive provisions of the first version, but the core regulatory content remains unchanged. The bill, called the "Hardware Technology Control Multilateral Alignment Act," was introduced in the House of Representatives on April 2, led by U.S. Republican Representative Michael Baumgartner, and received bipartisan support.

The core goal of the bill is to fill the loopholes in the current export control of chip equipment to China, promote policy alignment between the United States and equipment supplier countries such as the Netherlands and Japan, and maintain the United States' technological dominance in the field of artificial intelligence.

The initial version of the bill released in early April triggered a strong rebound in the global semiconductor industry.. Industry insiders described it as a "runaway train." Not only does it force its allies to fully cooperate with US control rules on China, it also introduces a large-scale equipment ban covering all of China.Equipment manufacturers are generally worried that strict restrictions will directly impact the scale of exports and damage corporate revenue.

The latest revised version has significantly narrowed the scope of restrictions and deleted many controversial provisions. This includes a nationwide ban on low-temperature etching machines for the entire Chinese market. The core suppliers of this type of equipment are Lam Semiconductor of the United States and Tokyo Electronics of Japan. The original tough policy of “universally rejecting” equipment maintenance license applications has also been cancelled, leaving only the requirement that equipment maintenance at relevant restricted facilities require a license application in advance.

But there is no concession on the core regulatory content of the bill. The revised version still retains national export restrictions on ASMLDUV lithography machines.At the same time, it is clearly stipulated thatOverseas companies are not allowed to supply equipment to the restricted production lines of Chinese chip companies such as SMIC, Yangtze Memory, and Changxin Memory that have been included in the restricted list by the United States.. The bill also sets a clear time limit for policy alignment negotiations between the United States and its allies. If no agreement is reached by the expiration date, the United States will unilaterally increase controls.

The current U.S. semiconductor controls on China originally only targeted specific fabs on the blacklist, rather than corporate entities holding production lines. Equipment manufacturers can export DUV equipment to mature process production lines of Chinese companies, as long as the companies promise not to use the equipment for advanced processes, but it is difficult for the United States to conduct effective audits.

The revised bill plugs this core loophole and regulates the transaction, use, resale and maintenance covering the entire life cycle of equipment.