U.S. Expands Blacklist of Chinese Tech Firms to Restrict AI and Chip Advancements

U.S. Expands Blacklist of Chinese Tech Firms

The United States has intensified its efforts to curb China’s artificial intelligence and semiconductor capabilities by adding over 50 Chinese tech companies to its export blacklist. The move, announced on Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, is part of broader restrictions aimed at preventing Beijing from accessing advanced computing technologies.

A total of 80 organizations were added to the "entity list," barring American firms from supplying them with critical technology without special government permits. The U.S. government cited national security concerns, alleging that these entities were involved in military-related AI development, supercomputing, and quantum technologies.

Among those blacklisted were six subsidiaries of Inspur Group, a major Chinese cloud computing firm, as well as companies accused of supplying restricted U.S. technology to Huawei and its affiliated chipmaker, HiSilicon. The Commerce Department specifically targeted 27 firms for their role in China’s military modernization and seven for their contributions to quantum technology advancements.

China’s foreign ministry swiftly condemned the move, urging the U.S. to stop using national security as a pretext for trade restrictions.

The restrictions are part of Washington’s broader strategy, dubbed the “small yard, high fence” policy, which aims to tightly control exports of sensitive technologies while allowing normal economic interactions in other sectors. The U.S. has also increased its surveillance of efforts to bypass these restrictions, particularly in the procurement of advanced chips from U.S. giants like Nvidia and AMD.

Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey I. Kessler emphasized that these measures are meant to prevent U.S. technology from being exploited for high-performance computing, hypersonic missile development, military aircraft training, and UAV production.

The blacklist expansion comes amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and China, with trade tariffs and competition in AI development adding to the friction. The rise of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has further intensified the race, challenging U.S. firms with its open-source, cost-effective AI models.

Huawei and Inspur Group have yet to respond to the latest restrictions.