The U.S. has added numerous Chinese entities to its export blacklist, marking the Trump administration’s first major move to hinder China’s progress in developing advanced AI chips, hypersonic weapons, and military technologies.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) placed 80 organizations, including over 50 from China, on its ‘entity list,’ restricting American companies from supplying them without government approval.
The listed entities include six Chinese subsidiaries of Inspur, a prominent cloud computing and big data service provider that collaborates with U.S. chipmaker Intel, with one subsidiary located in Taiwan.
The agency reported the companies were blacklisted for allegedly engaging in activities that oppose U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives.
The Commerce Department reported the subsidiaries were targeted for its role in developing supercomputers for military purposes and acquiring American-made technology to aid projects for China and the People’s Liberation Army. The department also noted two companies had been supplying technology to banned entities, including Huawei and its affiliated chipmaker, HiSilicon.
The U.S. blacklisted 27 Chinese entities for acquiring U.S.-made items to support China’s military modernization and added seven firms for advancing China’s quantum technology. Among the entities named are Chinese server manufacturer Nettrix Information Industry Company, technology firm Suma Technology Company, and electronics designer Suma-USI Electronics.
Since 2018, the Department of Commerce has consistently updated export controls to restrict the flow of U.S. technologies to China and to curb technological advancements.
The U.S. has not disclosed any public evidence for blacklisting the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI), a non-profit AI research institute. BAAI’s blacklisting follows Washington’s January action against Zhipu, a Chinese AI start-up specializing in large language models.
The Biden administration imposed export controls on China, targeting semiconductors and supercomputers, under its ‘small yard, high fence’ policy, which limits key military technologies while permitting normal economic trade.
Under Secretary Jeffrey I. Kessler stated the Trump administration is firmly committed to preventing U.S. technologies from being exploited for military purposes, such as hypersonic missiles and UAVs that pose threats to national security. He emphasized the entity list as a key tool to block foreign adversaries from misusing American technology.
IMEX SECTOR | Australia Allocates $6.8M to Protect Agricultural Exports from US Tariff Threats
