The Bureau of Industry and Security is “very busy” working to implement the semiconductor supply chain recommendations (see 2107140047) that arose from President Joe Biden’s February executive order (see 2102240068), including directives to pursue more collaboration with industry and a review of export controls and investment restrictions, a senior BIS official said. Sahar Hafeez, a senior adviser at BIS, said the agency will continue implementing those recommendations “in the weeks and months ahead.”
Chip export news
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for July 19-23 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.S. should pursue more cooperation around multilateral export controls to address the supply chain risks within the semiconductor industry, Bureau of Industry and Security Senior Adviser Sahar Hafeez told the Information Technology Industry Council. Hafeez, speaking to ITI along with technology policy officials from the European Union and South Korea during a virtual panel last week, also stressed the importance of domestic chip investment.
Yi-Chi Shih, a Hollywood Hills, California, resident, was sentenced to over five years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally ship integrated circuits with military applications to China, the Department of Justice said July 22. Shih was convicted of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations and fined more than $600,000 in fines and restitution to the IRS (see 1907020071).
The U.S. shouldn’t rely on export controls on semiconductors to stay ahead of China because the strategy would likely “backfire,” a former Department of Defense official told Congress this week. Lisa Porter, the former deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said government intervention in supply chains can “distort the market in ways that are hard to predict” and could lead to unintended consequences for the microelectronics industry.
Supply chain resilience requires diversification with allies and away from China, witnesses said during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, but they cautioned senators that improving resilience is complicated, and that government intervention can have unintended consequences. The committee was examining how Commerce Department implementation of the recent China package, once called Endless Frontier, could reduce supply chain failures in the future.
While the Biden administration has made clear its intentions to pursue stronger export controls over advanced semiconductor-related equipment, companies should also be prepared to see potential export controls over a range of other sectors that the U.S. deems to be too reliant on China, Baker McKenzie trade lawyer Kerry Contini said. Contini, speaking during a July 14 Baker McKenzie conference, pointed specifically to President Joe Biden’s February executive order to address supply chain issues (see 2102240068), which mentions the medical and agricultural sectors as well as the chip industry.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for July 6-9 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Semiconductors are a major plank of the broad supply chain vulnerability report released by the White House, and the report tries to grapple with the fact that major U.S. manufacturers are reliant on exports to China and that the U.S. and its allies want to maintain a technology edge over Chinese chip manufacturers.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for May 17-21 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching on the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.