Japan has announced plans to expand export restrictions on four technologies related to semiconductors or quantum computing, which is the latest measure to regulate global strategic technology exports.
Japan's new measures will affect scanning electron microscopes used for analyzing nanoscale images, as well as the Ring Gate (GAA) transistor technology used by Samsung Electronics to improve semiconductor design. Japan will also require that the low-temperature CMOS circuits used in quantum computers and the transportation of quantum computers themselves must be licensed.
Such goods to all countries/regions (including the most favored trading partners South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, China of China) will require the approval of export control officials.
The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry stated that this move aims to better regulate the export of military components and is consistent with similar measures around the world. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry stated that after the public opinion consultation period ending on May 25th, this change will take effect as early as July.
In 2023, Japan expanded its export controls on 23 cutting-edge chip manufacturing technologies. This measure was taken after the United States restricted Chinese Mainland's access to key semiconductor processes. Previously, US officials lobbied Japan, the Netherlands and other international partners to impose trade sanctions on Chinese Mainland.
