WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - China hardliners in

Congress are calling on the world's foremost semiconductor

equipment makers - KLA, LAM, Applied Materials ( AMAT )

, Tokyo Electron ( TOELF ) and ASML - to

provide details of their sales to China.

Republican John Moolenaar and Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi

sent letters to the companies on Thursday, according to a Friday

press release, amid pushback against expected U.S. rules that

crack down further on tool shipments to China.

"We understand that some (toolmakers) believe we should

limit the expansion of...future unilateral U.S. controls, due to

perceived impacts on the competitiveness of this sector," the

lawmakers wrote. "However, enhanced export controls simply are

not mutually exclusive with a robust and thriving (toolmaking)

industry," they added.

U.S. firms KLA, LAM, Applied Materials ( AMAT ), as well as

Japan-based Tokyo Electron ( TOELF ) and Dutch ASML did not immediately

respond to requests for comment.

But the letters come amid opposition even from Democrats

to the Biden administration's long-delayed next round of export

regulations, aimed at further stymying Beijing's access to

toolmaking equipment.

Washington fears that progress in Chinese chipmaking

capabilities, fueled by U.S., Dutch and Japanese equipment

sales, is fueling the modernization of China's military.

But it has struggled to bring allies Japan and the

Netherlands on board with another round of upcoming measures,

leading U.S. industry to fear that U.S. companies will be

unfairly harmed by them.

In an August letter,

California Democrats argued that a further round of export

controls "could send longstanding U.S. companies into a death

spiral," because U.S. allies have not imposed similarly

aggressive China export curbs on their own companies.