Chip-export restrictions to mainland China: impacts on automotive players

SMEE, an advanced lithography machine supplier in mainland China, plans to use its best machine to produce chips on the 28 nanometer (nm) process node in 2023. This is the same level where ASML, the world's leading lithography machine supplier, was in 2015

Japan has announced export controls on 23 types of advanced semiconductor-manufacturing equipment, in response to US pressure to limit mainland China's access to the technology. Japan's export controls are seen as an attempt to limit mainland China's access to semiconductor technology. The move, which is expected to come into force in July, will affect around 10 major companies including Nikon and Tokyo Electron. These companies would need to get licenses to ship a broader-than-expected array of equipment used to transform silicon into chips — spanning cleaning, deposition, annealing, lithography, etching and testing.