Japan, Netherlands joins United States to restrict chip manufacturing machine exports to China

Japan's government will start exporting of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China in Spring after it amends a foreign exchange law to allow the change.

The fresh regulation will not mention China specifically in a bid to reduce the risk of retaliation by Beijing, the report said, without saying where it obtained the information.

Japan and the Netherlands have agreed to join the United States in halting shipments of semiconductor manufacturing equipment produced by the likes of Nikon Corp and ASML Holdings in a bid to stop China from developing advanced chips that could be used to enhance its military power.

Only Washington, however, has acknowledged the existence of the deal and has yet to release any details of what equipment will be restricted.