Technology
The US is tightening trade restrictions on Chinese chipmaker SMIC
The U.S. Department of Commerce has added China's largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), to its list of organizations, having described there as a "unacceptable possibility" that SMIC equipment may be used for military purposes, Reuters said.
Moving blocks US computer chip companies from exporting technology to SMIC without an export license. SMIC is the new major Chinese corporation to be included in the agency list; the Trump administration added phone maker Huawei to the list in 2019.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Commerce Department wrote to the computer chip industry on Friday that exporting products to SMIC would pose an unacceptable risk of diversion to military end-use in the People's Republic of China.
In April, the administration tightened the rules on the export of products to China. It says that it intends to prevent US companies from selling goods that could be used to reinforce the Chinese army.
SMIC said in a statement to Reuters that it manufactures semiconductors and offers services only for industrial end-users and end-users and that it does not have any association with the Chinese army and does not manufacture for any military end-users or end-users.
