The White House on Friday moved to prevent Chinese companies from accessing U.S. semiconductors, a step meant to crimp China’s ability to compete for the most advanced technologies or even to develop cutting-edge weapons.
The Commerce Department announced on Friday that it was implementing new rules that would make it difficult for China to get advanced semiconductor chips. It also added 31 Chinese factories to its “unverified list,” which will limit their ability to purchase or acquire certain regulated U.S. items, such as semiconductors or advanced technology. The list now includes Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., a memory chip developer that Apple has considered working with in the past.
“Our actions will protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests while also sending a clear message that U.S. technological leadership is about values as well as innovation,” Thea Rozman Kendler, assistant secretary of commerce for export administration at the Department of Commerce, told the New York Times.
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The new rules will limit China’s ability to develop computers or applications that could be used for military purposes, such as developing nuclear weapons or advanced weaponry. It will also limit companies’ ability to sell chips to Chinese companies and prohibit U.S. citizens from supporting the development of semiconductor factories in China.
The placement of the 31 companies on the list means that exporters will no longer be provided advanced computing chips, chipmaking equipment, or other tech-related products by U.S. vendors without receiving a special license. This categorization is because the United States was unable to complete on-site visits to determine if the company could be trusted with such sensitive materials, according to Reuters.
The restrictions resemble similar rules implemented by the Trump administration against Huawei.
It remains unclear if China will reciprocate with similar restrictions on U.S. companies.
The United States is “to use its technological prowess as an advantage to hobble and suppress the development of emerging markets and developing countries,” a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy said. “The U.S. probably hopes that China and the rest of the developing world will forever stay at the lower end of the industrial chain.”
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The Commerce Department’s new guidelines arrive months after President Joe Biden signed into law the CHIPS Act, a bill that would provide hundreds of billions of dollars to U.S. semiconductor manufacturers in an attempt to help the country compete with China.
