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The US has put dozens of Chinese companies on export blacklists in its first major effort by the Trump administration to slow China’s ability to develop advanced artificial intelligence chips, high-sonic weapons and military-related technologies.
The US Department of Commerce added more than 70 Chinese groups to its “entity list” on Tuesday. In most cases, the license request will be denied.
Among the listed groups are six subsidiary companies of Inspur, a large cloud computing group that collaborates with chip maker Intel, including those based in Taiwan. The Biden administration placed Inspur on its Entity List in 2023, but was criticised for not adding a subsidiary. Inspur did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The US said the subsidiary aimed to acquire US-made technology to support the development of supercomputers for military use and to support projects in China and the People’s Liberation Army. They added that they have developed large AI models and advanced chips for military use.
“We do not allow the enemy to strengthen the US military and exploit American technology to threaten America’s lives,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
“We are committed to using all the tools the department has at its disposal to ensure that our most advanced technology is out of the hands of those seeking to harm Americans.”
The US has not provided any official evidence to support the blacklist of the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence to support China’s military modernization. Baai is a leading non-profit AI research institute founded in 2018 to bring together industry and academia. It regularly releases open source AI models and other tools, hosts annual meetings, and invites global experts in this field.
Baai’s blacklist comes after Washington targeted Zhipu in January. Startups are at the forefront of Chinese AI groups developing large-scale language models. Baai did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In most cases, this limit applies to non-US companies that export products containing American technology to the Chinese group under an extraterrestrial tool known as the “foreign direct product rules.”
The US also covers four groups in Henan Province, the Information Industry, Nettrix Information Industry, SUMA Technology and SUMA-USI Electronics, which are involved in the development of exascale superconductors for military purposes such as nuclear weapon modeling.
Washington said it provided “critical manufacturing capabilities” to Sugon, an advanced computer server manufacturer that was featured on the Entity List in 2019 to build supercomputers for military use.
The Biden administration has imposed swept export controls on China, which encompasses everything from quantum computing to AI chips, under a “small yards, high fence” policy. However, critics accused Chinese companies of not closing loopholes that could avoid restrictions.
“These are long-term deferred actions that plug in existing regulatory holes that have been hindered by industry lobbyists for many years,” said one analyst with an analyst focused on technology-related geopolitical issues.
Jeffrey Kessler is the secretary of the Department of Commerce for Industry and Security, and his office said he would “send a clear and overwhelming message” that would prevent US technology from being “misused” due to “high-performance computing, high-sociable missiles, military aircraft training, (unmanned aerial training),” which threatens our national security.
The US has also added 10 entities based in China, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates to its list surrounding links to South Africa’s Test Flying Academy.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment
Additional Reports by Ryan McMorrow of Beijing
