Earlier this month, China's market regulator approved U.S. semiconductor firm Micron's acquisition of a packaging and testing firm in China, part of the company's plan to expand investment in China.

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced new export control rules that target China's semiconductor and AI industry, expanding the parameters and patching "loopholes" of existing export controls on chips and manufacturing tools.

The European Commission adopted a new document that sets up a deadline for Member States to conduct risk assessments on multiple critical technologies, including AI, advanced chips and manufacturing equipment, as well as quantum computing, with potential export controls and investment restrictions to follow.

In a WTO consultations request from last week that was made public yesterday, China has supplemented its previous request related to U.S. export restrictions on semiconductors.

In reaction to recent reports of a new Huawei smartphone with advanced capabilities, member of Congress are pushing the U.S. Commerce Department to tighten semiconductor export controls even further.

Last week, Chairman Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, urging the Biden Administration to tighten the export controls that restrict advanced semiconductors and equipment from being exported to China.

At the April 3 and 4, 2023 meeting of the WTO Council for Trade in Goods, for which the minutes have now been circulated, a number of issues were raised by China in relation to other Members (including the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and semiconductor subsidies/export controls), and