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.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS