The U.S. Commerce Department is poised to place more Chinese companies on its restricted export list, with ChangXin Memory among those under consideration. According to an informed source, the Bureau of Industry and Security is reviewing whether subsidiaries of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. should join the “Entity List.”
According to the Financial Times, the timing of this regulatory move has been complicated by a recent trade agreement between the U.S. and China. Companies included in this list are generally prohibited from receiving goods or technology exports without a license, which is usually denied. Entities are targeted for activities deemed contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy objectives.
The Biden administration previously added over two dozen Chinese entities to this restricted list in January. Noteworthy additions included Zhipu AI, a developer of large language models, and Sophgo, implicated for integrating a TSMC-produced chip into a Huawei AI processor illicitly. During this period, the Commerce Department also implemented stricter controls over chip exports to China, aiming to prevent diversion to Huawei.
(With inputs from agencies.)