It says further rule-tightening by US officials risks ‘disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty’.

The US-based Semiconductor Industry Association has called on President Joe Biden’s administration to “refrain from further restrictions” on chip sales to China as chief executives from the biggest US semiconductor firms planned to visit Washington this week to press their views on China policy.

The trade group’s statement on Monday came as the Biden administration considers updating a sweeping set of rules imposed in October to hobble China’s chip industry and a new executive order restricting some outbound investment.

The chief executives of Intel Corp and Qualcomm Inc planned to meet with government officials on Monday to discuss their views on China policy, the Reuters news agency reported, citing an unnamed source.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, are among government officials who are to hold the meetings with Intel, Qualcomm and Nvidia Corp, Reuters reported.

The statement also comes after China moved to restrict exports of raw materials such as gallium and germanium that are used in making chips. The industry group said that further rule-tightening by US officials risks “disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China”.

The industry group said it wants “the administration to refrain from further restrictions until it engages more extensively with industry and experts to assess the impact of current and potential restrictions to determine whether they are narrow and clearly defined, consistently applied and fully coordinated with allies”.

A spokesperson for the US National Security Council told Reuters the rules have been designed to ensure that US technologies are not used in ways that undermine national security.

“We have been deliberate about getting this right, including through extensive public comment on regulations, and through intensive coordination with allies and partners, the Hill, industry, and other stakeholders,” the spokesperson said in a statement, referring to Capitol Hill, where Congress is located.