The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced a new package of export controls on Monday designed to further curb the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) ability to make advanced-node semiconductors on its own.
The long-awaited restrictions target semiconductor chips and chip-making equipment, which the Commerce Department said China could use to build AI-powered military weapons.
“This action is the culmination of the Biden-Harris administration’s targeted approach, in concert with our allies and partners, to impair the PRC’s ability to indigenize the production of advanced technologies that pose a risk to our national security,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a Dec. 2 press release.
“No administration has been tougher in strategically addressing China’s military modernization through export controls than the Biden-Harris administration,” Raimondo added.
The new rules include export controls on 24 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and three types of software tools for developing or producing semiconductors. They also include new controls on a kind of chip called “high-bandwidth memory” (HBM) that is typically used in applications requiring high-performance computing such as AI.
The Commerce Department also added 140 entities to the “Entity List” – in addition to 14 modifications – restricting companies that are working to advance the PRC’s chip goals.
The newly blacklisted companies include ten that the Commerce Department said “pose a significant risk of contributing to the efforts of Huawei Technologies Co.,” a China-based tech equipment company that is also blacklisted.
“The purpose of these Entity List actions is to stop PRC companies from leveraging U.S. technology to indigenously produce advanced semiconductors,” said Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement. “By adding key semiconductor fabrication facilities, equipment manufacturers, and investment companies to the Entity List, we are directly impeding the PRC’s military modernization, WMD programs, and ability to repress human rights.”
Additionally, the Commerce Department said the updated rules include several regulatory changes “to enhance the effectiveness of our previous controls.”
BIS published an interim final rule in October 2022 to restrict the PRC’s ability to purchase and manufacture certain high-end semiconductors critical for military applications. BIS then released updated rules in October 2023 and April 2024.
“The United States has taken significant steps to protect our technology from being used by our adversaries in ways that threaten our national security. As technology evolves, and our adversaries seek new ways to evade restrictions, we will continue to work with our allies and partners to proactively and aggressively safeguard our world-leading technologies and know-how so they aren’t used to undermine our national security,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
