October 10, 2022
America has gone a step further in its battle for supremacy with China by publishing updated export rules that will control Chinese companies’ access to computer chips. The rules will also block the development of artificial intelligence, and thwart Chinese companies’ attempts to produce cutting-edge military technology.
The rules are also intended to make it much more difficult for China to develop supercomputers with military applications ranging from nuclear weapons simulation to the development of hypersonic weapons.
The rules have the potential to hamper China’s chip manufacturing industry by forcing American and foreign companies using U.S. technology to cut support for some of China’s leading factories and chip designers.
The U.S. decision to use American tools to control chip exports to China is based on an extension of the foreign direct product rule, which had previously been extended to give the U.S. government authority to control chip exports to China to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, and to halt the flow of semiconductors to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
The expanded rules were imposed by the Biden administration on Chinese companies IFLYTEK, Dahua Technology, and Megvii Technology, which were put on the entity list in 2019 after allegations that they helped Beijing suppress the Uyghur minority group.
The restrictions will also prohibit American citizens and companies from directly or indirectly supporting Chinese companies involved in advanced chip production.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
