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TOKYO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Japan and the Netherlands will soon agree to join the United States in restricting exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, Bloomberg News reported. Talks between the countries will conclude as early as Friday, with the Netherlands restricting ASML Holding NV (ASML.AS) from selling machines to China used to make certain types of advanced chips, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Japan would impose similar restrictions on Nikon Corp (7731.T), the report said. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara, a government spokesperson, said Japan would make "appropriate steps" based on the United States'...

In another step aimed at stifling China’s technological advance, the US Department of Commerce has decided to restrict shipments of advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) designed by American companies NVIDIA and AMD to China. The US government says it is worried about potential military applications of these products. GPUs are a type of integrated circuit used in graphics and video image generation, high-performance computing and the acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. NVIDIA and AMD, both based in California, are the 9th and 10th largest semiconductor companies in the world as ranked by revenue in 2021. The stock...