THE United States plans to tighten sweeping measures to restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors and chipmaking gear. The latest rules aim to refine and close loopholes from curbs announced last October, according to people familiar with the matter. The Biden administration is seeking to strengthen controls on selling graphics chips for artificial intelligence applications and advanced chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms, the people said. The Biden administration will also impose additional checks on Chinese firms by routing shipments through other nations and add Chinese chip design firms to a trade restriction list, requiring overseas manufacturers to gain a U.S. license to fill orders from those companies. The Biden administration unveiled the original chip restrictions a year ago in an aggressive attempt to curtail China’s technological development. China has bristled at the restrictions and accelerated investments in building its own domestic capabilities. The updated restrictions will be published early this week, people familiar with the deliberations said. The Biden administration has drawn criticism because of perceived shortcomings in the original export controls. The United States unveiled the original restrictions before getting the support of key allies, notably the Netherlands and Japan, which allowed chip equipment companies in those countries to continue selling advanced gear to Chinese customers. Several companies have objected to the Biden administration’s strategy. Peter Wennink, CEO of Dutch chip equipment leader ASML Holding NV, publicly opposed the measures and warned that Chinese companies would develop competing technology. U.S. companies such as Nvidia Corp. — the leader in graphics chips used to develop artificial intelligence services — have also questioned the long-term effectiveness of limiting trade. Nevertheless, the Biden administration is seeking to address several outstanding issues with the tighter rules, particularly the development of AI and the shipment of technologies through other countries. The new controls on graphics chips cover components called accelerators, which are used in data centers to train AI software. The Biden administration is tweaking the parameters which govern the export of those chips to China — a move that comes after Nvidia developed a China-specific model to work around last year’s curbs. In addition, the rules will restrict shipments of certain chips to Chinese companies’ overseas subsidiaries and affiliates, and begin requiring a license to export prohibited technologies to countries that could be used as intermediaries. The updated rules will not include restrictions on Chinese companies’ access to U.S. or allied cloud computing services, according to U.S. officials familiar with the rules. (SD-Agencies) | 