Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
Japan’s Semiconductor Export Control: Targeting High-Performance Manufacturing Equipment!
ーMinisterial Ordinance Amendment Enforced from July 23ー
Reuters/Tokyo, from an article published on May 23
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry:
It was announced that the “revision of the ministerial ordinance to make high-performance semiconductor manufacturing equipment subject to export control” will come into effect on July 23.
In addition to the purpose of preventing military diversion, 23 new items were added in consideration of the latest trends in the countries concerned.
https://jp.reuters.com/article/chip-meti-idJPKBN2XE08A
23 items of semiconductor manufacturing equipment are subject to export control!
What will be the impact on Japanese companies?
According to the newswitch commentary:
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will newly subject 23 items of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to export control.
Added equipment for manufacturing logic semiconductors with a circuit line width of 14 nm or less.
The United States sought cooperation from Japan and the Netherlands.
However, “It is not something that has a specific country in mind,” said Yasutoshi Nishimura, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Nikkei has organized the difficult ministerial ordinance revision proposals for “23 items of semiconductor manufacturing equipment with stricter export controls” in an easy-to-read manner.
Nikkei Cross Tech (xTECH):
The reason for adding to the export control is
“If high-performance semiconductors are used for military purposes, international peacekeeping will be hindered.” (Yasutoshi Nishimura)
What kind of products are the 23 items?
The amendments published for public comment are statutory documents.
Therefore, it is very difficult to read and it is difficult to grasp the whole picture (Fig. 1).
Nikkei Crosstech deciphered the document. The nine items covered are as follows.
“Photomask protective film (pellicle) manufacturing equipment”
“pellicle”
“Exposure device”
“Coater (photomask coating device)”
“Deposition equipment” “Etching equipment”
“Annealing (heat treatment) equipment”
“Cleaning device”
“Photomask inspection system”
It turned out that the above (Fig. 2)
Additional items to be covered were disclosed in the revision of the ministerial ordinance.
Opinions will be solicited until April 29, and the law is scheduled to come into effect in July of the same year.