On December 17, according to a Reuters report, people familiar with the matter pointed out that the Biden administration has not yet decided whether to block the sale of more US technology to the Chinese chip manufacturer SMIC, but stated that it will discuss with the allies whether to further restrict the sale of chip manufacturing equipment to China. .

Sources said that at a meeting of representatives of several US agencies, officials discussed a proposal on whether to increase sales to SMIC and other Chinese chip manufacturers. A source said that officials seem to believe that the United States should strengthen cooperation with allies and formulate stricter policies on Chinese chip manufacturers.

In response, a White House spokesperson declined to comment.

Since SMIC was included in the Entity List by the US Department of Commerce last year, the company’s US suppliers need to obtain a license before exporting chip manufacturing equipment to it, and equipment used to manufacture chips with nodes of 10nm and below will face more problems. The strict standard is "presumptive rejection".

Reuters reported that the policy changes that the Biden administration is considering may restrict the import of equipment required by SMIC's mature manufacturing process. However, American chip equipment manufacturers issued a statement: "If SMIC does not purchase from American equipment manufacturers, the company will purchase related equipment from other countries."

Obviously, American chip equipment manufacturers do not want the Biden administration to escalate sanctions against SMIC. Surprisingly, the US Department of Commerce also opposed the escalation of sanctions this time.

According to the Wall Street Journal, people familiar with the matter pointed out that in terms of sanctions against SMIC, although officials from the US State Department, the US Department of Energy, and the US National Security Council support the Pentagon’s proposal to prevent loopholes, officials from the US Department of Commerce still oppose it.