The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added 80 foreign entities from China, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Taiwan, and Iran to the Entity List to face trade restrictions.
The U.S. bars companies from exporting goods to entities added to the list.
Of the 80 entities blacklisted, more than half were Chinese entities, while the Taiwanese, South African, and Emirati entities were added to the list due to their ties to the Chinese military.
The companies will be blacklisted in order to restrict Beijing’s “ability to acquire and develop high performance and exascale computing capabilities, as well as quantum technologies, for military applications,” the bureau said in a press release.
The bureau is also worried about China’s development of super-fast traveling hypersonic weapons technology, which experts have said is an area in which the U.S. has fallen behind China.
The Department’s announcement is the latest attempt by the U.S. to curb China’s advancements in artificial intelligence and computing technology, and it builds on recent escalations by the Biden administration.
“We are committed to using every tool at the Department’s disposal to ensure our most advanced technologies stay out of the hands of those who seek to harm Americans,” secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick said in the bureau’s press release.
“The Entity List is one of many powerful tools at our disposal to identify and cut off foreign adversaries seeking to exploit American technology for malign purposes,” under secretary of commerce for industry and security Jeffrey I. Kessler said.
One Taiwanese and 11 Chinese entities were added to the list for “engaging in the development of advanced AI, supercomputers and high-performance AI chips for China-based end-users with close ties to the country’s military industrial complex,” the bureau said in a press release.
Seven Chinese entities were added for acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items to advance quantum technology capabilities of China. The bureau said that China’s strides in quantum technology and any military applications of it present “serious ramifications for U.S. national security.”
Twenty-seven Chinese entities were listed for acquiring or attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items to support hypersonic weapons and flight, and two Chinese entities were added to the list for selling products to parties already on the entity list, namely Chinese tech giant Huawei.
President Donald Trump placed Huawei on the U.S. Entity List in 2019. The Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation into Huawei and other Chinese companies last week, saying that the FCC had reason to believe they are unlawfully continuing operations in the U.S.
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