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The United States has moved to curb China’s technological advancements by placing numerous Chinese entities on an export blacklist. This marks the Trump administration’s significant leap in its strategy to impede China’s progress in fields such as advanced artificial intelligence chips, hypersonic weaponry, and military-related technologies.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce announced the addition of over 70 Chinese organizations to its “entity list.” With this move, American companies now require a license to sell technology to these groups, and in most instances, their applications will likely be turned down.
Among those affected are six Chinese subsidiaries of Inspur, a prominent cloud computing firm that has collaborated with US chip giant Intel, including one subsidiary located in Taiwan. Although the Biden administration added Inspur to the entity list in 2023, it faced backlash for initially excluding its affiliates.
According to the US, these subsidiaries were singled out for their roles in developing military supercomputers and acquiring US-made technologies for projects benefiting China and the People’s Liberation Army. These subsidiaries have crafted extensive AI models and advanced chips aimed at military use.
Howard Lutnick, the US Commerce Secretary, stressed, “We won’t permit adversaries to leverage American technology to enhance their military capabilities and endanger American lives.” He further vowed, “We’re fully committed to using every resource the department possesses to ensure that our cutting-edge technologies don’t end up with those who intend to harm Americans.”
Generally, these restrictions extend even to non-US companies that export products involving American technology to these Chinese firms, thanks to an extraterritorial measure known as the “foreign direct product rule.”
Additionally, the US has targeted four entities—Henan Dingxin Information Industry, Nettrix Information Industry, Suma Technology, and Suma-USI Electronics. These organizations are engaged in the development of exascale superconductors for military applications, including nuclear weapon modeling.
The US claimed these companies provided substantial manufacturing capabilities to Sugon, an advanced computer server manufacturer that was added to the entity list in 2019 for its military supercomputer projects.
Through its “small yard, high fence” strategy, the Biden administration introduced broad export restrictions against China, covering areas like quantum computing and AI chips. However, detractors have pointed out that certain loopholes have allowed some Chinese firms to bypass these regulations.
“Finally addressing gaps in current rules that were stalled for years by industry lobbyists is a welcome step,” a tech-geopolitical analyst noted.
Jeffrey Kessler, the under-secretary of commerce for industry and security, emphasized, “We’re delivering a strong, unmistakable message that this administration will not allow US technology to be misappropriated for high-performance computing, hypersonic missiles, military aircraft training, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles that jeopardize our national security.”
The US has also blacklisted 10 entities based in China, South Africa, and the UAE due to connections with the Test Flying Academy of South Africa. This flight school was added to the entity list in 2023 after it was found recruiting western fighter jet pilots, including those from the UK, to train Chinese pilots.
