The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities.
The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.”
Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization.
Photo: Reuters
“We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said.
The entities targeted include 11 based in China and one in Taiwan, accused of engaging in the development of advanced AI, supercomputers and high-performance AI chips for China-based users “with close ties to the country’s military-industrial complex.”
They include the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (北京人工智能研究院) and subsidiaries of information technology giant Inspur Group (浪潮集團).
Others were included for “contributions to unsafeguarded nuclear activities” or ballistic missile programs.
The aim is to prevent US technologies and goods from being misused for activities like high-performance computing, hypersonic missiles and military aircraft training, US Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler said.
Two entities in Iran and China were also added to the list for seeking to procure US items for Iran’s defense industry and drone programs, the commerce department said.
Beijing condemned the blacklisting of its firms, accusing Washington of “weaponizing” trade and technology in a “typical act of hegemonism.”
“We urge the US side to stop generalizing the concept of national security... and stop abusing all kinds of sanctions lists to unreasonably suppress Chinese enterprises,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said at a daily news conference.
China would take “necessary measures” to defend its firms’ rights, Guo added.
Meanwhile, Taiwan would investigate why the Taiwanese subsidiary of Inspur Group, China’s leading cloud computing and big data service provider, was added to the trade blacklist, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday.
Inspur Taiwan, located in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), is also known by the names Number Media Ltd (數字雲端) and Inspur Taiwan — R&D Center (台灣浪潮 －研發中心).
The ministry would “quickly investigate” the company’s situation, including what US regulations it is accused of breaching, Kuo said.
If the company acted illegally, the government would impose penalties, he said.
The government has been working with companies to confirm the end user of their products, and ensure that they are not inadvertently breaching trade rules, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS