BANGKOK, AP – In a move that adds fresh friction to already tense bilateral ties, China has introduced provisional trade controls targeting Japanese shipments of dichlorosilane (DCS), a critical ultra-pure chemical compound indispensable to semiconductor manufacturing. The new rules, which took effect Tuesday, have drawn immediate pushback from Tokyo, which says it is assessing the potential fallout for domestic Japanese firms and preparing a calibrated response.
Beijing’s decision stems from an ongoing anti-dumping investigation into Japanese DCS imports. Chinese authorities argue that Japanese exporters of the material have violated global anti-dumping norms by undercutting prices, inflicting measurable harm on China’s domestic DCS production industry. Under the new provisional measures, any company importing DCS from Japan is required to post cash deposits with Chinese customs, with deposit rates reaching as high as 99.2 percent of the shipment’s value. The regulation explicitly targets major Japanese DCS producers including Shin-Etsu Chemical and Denal Silane, and applies to all other Japanese exporters of the chemical as well.
Beijing emphasizes that the current restrictions are temporary, pending the conclusion of its ongoing investigation, with a final binding ruling to be issued at a later date. The trade action comes against a backdrop of steadily worsening relations between Beijing and Tokyo that dates back to November last year, when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi provoked fierce Chinese ire by suggesting Japan’s military could intervene if China resorted to military force against Taiwan. China claims the self-governing island of Taiwan as an inalienable part of its sovereign territory, and has repeatedly condemned foreign and Japanese statements interfering in what it considers an internal affair.
In Tokyo, Japan’s top government spokesman Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara issued a formal protest over the new controls Tuesday. Kihara confirmed that Tokyo would take what he described as appropriate action to prevent unfair economic harm to Japanese DCS producers and exporters. This latest trade measure is not Beijing’s only action targeting Japanese trade in recent months: the Chinese government previously rolled out separate export controls on dual-use goods with potential military applications for Japanese firms, adding to a growing list of economic frictions between the two neighboring Asian powers.
For the global semiconductor industry, DCS fills a uniquely critical role: the chemical is a core input for the chemical vapor deposition process used to lay down thin layers of silicon, oxide and other specialized films on both logic and memory semiconductor chips. While the global DCS market as a whole is marked by tight competition, Japan has long held a dominant position as the world’s leading supplier of the ultra-pure grade DCS required for advanced chip manufacturing. This market position means the new Chinese import controls could have ripple effects across regional and global semiconductor supply chains, even as the final outcome of Beijing’s anti-dumping probe remains uncertain.