Biden Tees Up Trump With a Final China Chip Battle

With one foot out of the Oval Office, U.S. President Joe Biden fired a parting shot at China’s semiconductor industry—setting the stage for fresh trade tensions over the powerful technologies for President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.

The U.S. Commerce Department announced new export controls that target China on Dec. 2, including controls on 24 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, three types of software tools for developing semiconductors, and high-bandwidth memory chips. It will also add 140 companies, many of which are based in China, to an "entity list" that places a licensing requirement on the purchase of U.S. technology.

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The latest round of export controls had been expected for months, with negotiations with U.S. allies such as Japan and the Netherlands—which produce most of the world’s advanced chipmaking equipment—delaying the announcement (both countries have received exemptions from the restrictions).

“We’ve been waiting for these controls for a long time,” said Geoffrey Gertz, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “Among the range of things that were discussed, it’s probably a little more moderate than some of the earlier reporting suggested.”

Read the full article on Foreign Policy.