The Donald Trump administration notified South Korean chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, of a guideline to restrict supplies of U.S.-made equipment to their factories in China.

According to The Wall Street Journal(WSJ) on Friday, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler issued such a notice this week to the two South Korean companies, as well as Taiwan's TSMC.

Kessler told the three firms that Washington would like to withdraw an earlier measure that waives authorization for each time they supply American-made semiconductor production equipment to plants in China.

Washington's latest move appears to be an attempt to in effect block entry of U.S.-manufactured cutting-edge semiconductor equipment into China.

Under the previous Joe Biden administration in October 2022, the U.S. announced a set of export controls, practically banning American businesses from exporting some of the cutting-edge equipment to Chinese chip production firms.