Overview
- Lawmakers introduced the bipartisan MATCH Act to tighten controls on the specialized machines used to build AI chips, led by Representative Michael Baumgartner.
- The draft would bar sales plus servicing of key equipment to leading Chinese chip firms, naming SMIC, Hua Hong, Huawei, CXMT, and YMTC.
- The sponsors singled out immersion DUV lithography, the chip printing gear dominated by ASML with Nikon a smaller rival, which Chinese fabs still buy under current Dutch rules.
- The plan leans on allied coordination because the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan supply most of the world’s advanced chipmaking tools.
- Chinese imports of chipmaking gear jumped from $10.7 billion in 2016 to about $51.1 billion last year, reflecting the drive for self-reliance that Xi Jinping has urged.