Japan plans to impose export restrictions on 23 types of equipment used to make semiconductors, following similar curbs by the US designed to restrict China’s access to cutting-edge chips in an intensifying battle over the technology.
The move by Japan fulfils its side of a three-way agreement with the US and Netherlands that would significantly curtail China’s ability to import equipment used to produce the most advanced types of semiconductors.
Japan has avoided any formal public reference to that agreement, as geopolitical tensions and US-China decoupling have raised pressure on Japanese companies to work out a strategy that allows them to straddle both markets.