The US has imposed export restrictions on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), taking aim at another prominent Chinese technology company and adding to tensions between the two countries over the critical industry.
US firms must now apply for a license to export certain products to China’s largest chipmaker, the US Department of Commerce said in a letter dated Friday, reviewed by Bloomberg News.
SMIC and its subsidiaries present “an unacceptable risk of diversion to a military end use,” the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security wrote.
SMIC has not been put on the so-called US entity list, which means the restrictions are not yet as severe as those imposed on Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
The US has reportedly said it was mulling the more severe blacklisting, which would affect exports from a broader set of companies.
“The military end-use rules only apply to a subset of listed US origin items. The entity list rules apply to all US origin and some foreign-origin items,” said Kevin Wolf, an export control lawyer at Akin Gump and senior department official in the administration of former US president Barack Obama.
The SMIC decision was a compromise between the US departments of defense and commerce, and moderates in the administration of US President Donald Trump, according to one person familiar with the negotiations.
SMIC has not received an official notice of the sanctions, has no relationship with the Chinese armed forces and does not manufacture goods for any military end-users or uses, the Shanghai-based company said in an e-mailed statement.
The commerce department would not immediately confirm the contents of the letter.
The Financial Times reported on the letter earlier.
Still, restrictions against SMIC mark further escalation in the rising tensions between the world’s two most powerful countries.
The US and China have clashed over trade, intellectual property, the COVID-19 pandemic and national security, including the onerous new National Security Law in Hong Kong.
The field of technology has become increasingly contentious as China takes aim at leading the world in certain sectors long dominated by the US.
The US blacklisted Huawei, preventing the giant telecommunications provider from buying components from US suppliers and pressured allies to follow suit.
As much as half of SMIC’s equipment comes from the US, Jefferies Group LLC estimated, and the company has a market value of more than US$29 billion.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS