In the past, the United States has successively sent Yellen and Blinken to visit China, ostensibly to "control Sino-US competition", but in fact to "draw red lines" against China under the banner of "communication", on the one hand to demand that China curb the so-called "excess capacity", on the other hand to demand that China reduce trade with Russia, and also exert pressure on the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait and other major issues related to China's territorial sovereignty. The result is obvious, both Yellen and Blinken ended up empty-handed. But what followed was a new round of pressure on the mainland launched by the United States in the field of semiconductors.
A few days ago, the Dutch lithography machine giant ASML announced the official retirement of the former CEO Peter Winnink at its annual shareholders' meeting. In his retirement speech, the former head of ASML, who fought with the Biden administration in order to provide after-sales service to Chinese customers normally in the last period of his career, admitted that even if ASML will continue to provide after-sales service to Chinese customers in the future, the company can no longer use lithography machine parts made in the United States or subject to export control by the United States in the service process. Wennink's statement is undoubtedly a "big turn" in ASML's after-sales service policy in China.
Almost at the same time, Japan's Kishida government also made a move in the field of semiconductors. On the 26th of this month, Japan announced plans to take export control measures against related items in the field of semiconductors. A reporter asked the spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce of the mainland about his views on this matter, and the spokesman made it clear that the relevant measures proposed by the Japanese side will seriously affect the normal trade exchanges between Chinese and Japanese enterprises, and are acts that harm others and are not beneficial to themselves, and that the Japanese side should proceed from the overall situation of maintaining bilateral economic and trade relations and promptly correct its erroneous practices. The spokesperson stressed that China will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.
Whether it is ASML's change of heart or the Kishida government's "advance warning", it reflects the will of the United States, the Biden administration wants to concentrate firepower in the field of semiconductors to launch an offensive against the mainland, but this time, the United States is not only to block China in advanced process chips, but also to extend its black hand to mature process chips. Due to the deliberate obstruction of the United States, ASML has been unable to sell EUV lithography machines to the mainland, and DUV lithography machines that can produce higher processes have also been targeted by the United States. However, Continental has achieved corner overtaking in the field of electric vehicles, and the chips required for electric vehicles do not require advanced manufacturing processes.
Therefore, the United States is actually aiming to "kill two birds with one stone" when it starts with the DUV lithography machine that China has purchased. However, as a defensive party, China is not powerless, on the contrary, the United States' maximum pressure on China seems to be to destroy the mainland's semiconductor industry through "decoupling", but from a positive point of view, due to the deliberate obstruction of the United States, these shares that originally belonged to the United States and Japan semiconductor-related companies will be forced to withdraw because of an executive order of the United States government, but the needs of Chinese companies will not change because of this.
This means that as long as China can achieve domestic substitution as soon as possible, the "roadblock" used by the United States today to block the way out of the mainland's semiconductor industry will be smashed on the feet of the United States tomorrow. In fact, the United States' past scientific and technological containment of China has not only not played a role, but has contributed to the speed of China's scientific and technological progress. On April 30, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post combed through official and other authoritative data and data to find that China's society has undergone profound changes in the past decade, and has achieved more than 86% of the target in 10 key areas such as new energy vehicles and information technology, which is enough to "prove that US tariffs and sanctions are ineffective".
Facts will prove that the United States' strategy of relying on "small courtyards and high walls" to block China's industrial upgrading can only succeed for a while, and will never succeed for a lifetime. Moreover, a large number of Chinese companies have devoted themselves to the process of semiconductor domestic independence, and what China needs is a stable development period.