Technology Export Controls
How restricting access to semiconductors, AI chips, and manufacturing equipment has become the newest frontier of economic statecraft.
The Export Control Revolution
In October 2022, the US imposed sweeping export controls on advanced semiconductors and chip-manufacturing equipment destined for China. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan described the policy as maintaining 'as large a lead as possible' over rivals in foundational technologies. The controls restricted not just American exports but products made anywhere in the world using American technology -- leveraging the US role in the semiconductor supply chain to create a near-global blockade on China's access to cutting-edge chips.
The Netherlands and Japan, home to ASML and Tokyo Electron -- the only companies that make the most advanced chip-manufacturing equipment -- joined the US in restricting exports. This trilateral alignment was essential because the US alone could not control the chokepoints. ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, which cost over $200 million each and are essential for manufacturing the most advanced chips, became the most consequential export-controlled technology in the world.
