91³ÉÈË

Strengthening U.S. Semiconductor Leadership Through Smart Export Control Policy

by Molly O’Leary, Director of Government Affairs

Maintaining and growing U.S. semiconductor leadership is both a national security and economic security imperative. To that end, we encourage the Administration and Congress to advance policies that ensure American semiconductors are adopted worldwide and decrease international dependence on competing technologies developed by adversaries. Targeted export controls can be an important tool for safeguarding America’s economic security and national security. To achieve these goals, 91³ÉÈË has long advocated for export controls that are targeted to achieve clear national security objectives, pursued in alignment with other key producer nations, implemented in a consistent and timely manner, and regularly evaluated to ensure they are achieving their specified objectives.

We have likewise called on Congress to ensure BIS is adequately resourced to implement and enforce export controls, as well as to engage with industry through various outreach, education, and compliance activities. We therefore appreciate and commend the bipartisan efforts of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to address these administrative and process priorities through several measures considered during a markup last month. As such, 91³ÉÈË supports the following bills contributing to these priorities: H.R. 4505, H.R. 4920, H.R. 6996, H.R. 7003, H.R. 8287, H.R. 8288, and H.R. 8289.

To be effective in safeguarding national security and preventing undue harm to U.S. industry, innovation, and technology leadership, export controls must reflect objective assessments of adversary capabilities, and those assessments must be regularly updated to reflect commercial realities. The semiconductor industry welcomes the opportunity to engage with policymakers on commonsense export promotion and export control policies to allow U.S. companies to do what we do best – lead, compete, and win.