According to the Wall Street Journal, a US Commerce Department official recently said the government will continue allowing certain chip makers to expand their operations in China. The act could weaken US efforts to restrain its economic rival’s growth in the chip industry.
Over the last year or so, US sanctions have curbed the export of essential semiconductor manufacturing tools to China to stop the country from becoming dominant in that sector. The US also convinced the Netherlands and Japan to follow its lead. This has had measurably damaging effects on Chinese tech revenue and the pace of semiconductor development in Chinese fabs.
