TOKYO – In the latest move against China, the US government has imposed export controls on a next-generation semiconductor material that was initially developed in Japan. On August 12, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Department of Commerce – as part of a wholesale move toward additional tech sanctions – issued a ruling that identified gallium oxide semiconductor substrates as an “emerging and foundational” technology “essential to the national security of the United States.” Gallium oxide is a promising material for the fabrication of more efficient power devices used in electric vehicles and other – including...