U.S. Adds Chinese Technology Companies to Export Blacklist

The U.S. Commerce Department barred five additional Chinese entities from buying American-made products, according to Bloomberg. That move risks inflaming tensions ahead of President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to restart trade talks.

The move follows the similar blacklisting of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei last month, blocking it from buying U.S. software and components that it needs to make its products. In a statement on Friday, the Commerce Department said the entities were part of China’s efforts to develop supercomputers. It said they raised national security concerns because the computers were being developed for military uses or in cooperation with the Chinese military.

Among those added to the blacklist were AMD’s Chinese joint-venture partner Higon, Commerce said in the statement. Also included were Sugon, which Commerce identified as Higon’s majority owner, along with Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit and Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology, both of which the department said Higon had an ownership interest in.

The ban affects AMD’s Chinese joint venture THATIC, which was established in 2016. AMD uses THATIC to license its microprocessor technology to Chinese companies including Higon. THATIC, or Tianjin Haiguang Advanced Technology Investment, is a Chinese holding company comprising an AMD joint venture with two entities, according to an AMD regulatory filing. THATIC provides chips to Sugon, a Chinese server and computer maker.

The blacklisting requires American companies doing business with the Chinese firms to get a license from the U.S. government in order to sell their products. The policy for granting such licenses is that there’s a presumption of denial of such a request, according to the Commerce Department statement.