36 Chinese firms added to US export blacklist

The Biden administration added 36 Chinese firms to its export blacklist on Thursday, doubling down on efforts to block Beijing’s access to advanced military and surveillance technology from the U.S.

Yangtze Memory Technologies, one of China’s largest chip makers, was added to the U.S.’s “Entity List” alongside 34 other Chinese companies and one Chinese subsidiary located in Japan, essentially blocking the firms from receiving U.S. technology.

Alan Estevez, undersecretary of Commerce for industry and security, said in a statement that the additions to the Entity List will severely restrict China’s ability to “leverage artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and other powerful, commercially available technologies for military modernization and human rights abuses.”

The vast majority of the firms were added to the export blacklist for their association with the Chinese military and efforts to obtain technology to support China’s military modernization. In particular, several entities were barred for their involvement in China’s development of hypersonic and ballistic weapons.

Tianjin Tiandi Weiye Technologies, a Chinese surveillance firm, was also placed on the Entity List for its role in “the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance” of the country’s minority Uyghur population.

The new additions to the export blacklist follow several new rules the Commerce Department introduced in October in an effort to block China’s ability to obtain high-end chips used in military applications.