BIS expanded the rules to cover controls on 24 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and three software tools for chip development.
The Bureau also extended export controls on high-bandwidth memory units in a bid to curtail China’s access to high-end hardware it claims could be used to advance the country’s military modernisation.
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“The US has taken significant steps to protect our technology from being used by our adversaries in ways that threaten our national security,” Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor. “As technology evolves, and our adversaries seek new ways to evade restrictions, we will continue to work with our allies and partners to proactively and aggressively safeguard our world-leading technologies and know-how so they aren’t used to undermine our national security.”
The Biden administration imposed restrictions on exports of high-performance semiconductors to China over national security concerns, barring firms like Nvidia from shipping powerful GPUs to power AI workloads.
To further tighten the export rules, the BIS introduced new measures this week that it claims will slow China’s AI development efforts that could “change the future of warfare.”
The updated rule chief among the changes is new export controls on shipments of semiconductor manufacturing equipment needed to produce advanced-node integrated circuits.
Shipments of certain equipment used in processes like lithography, annealing, and etching are now barred from being sent to China.
The BIS also took action against certain software tools used to produce advanced-node integrated circuits, including tools used to increase the productivity of chip manufacturing equipment.
In addition to controls, some 140 organisations have been added to the Entity’s List, which imposes strict rules on what companies can ship to them, requiring licenses before shipping goods or technologies.
BIS added semiconductor fabs, tool companies, and investment companies it claimed are “acting at the behest of Beijing to further [China]’s advanced chip goals which pose a risk to US and allied national security.”
“This action is the culmination of the Biden-Harris Administration’s targeted approach, in concert with our allies and partners, to impair [China]’s ability to indigenise the production of advanced technologies that pose a risk to our national security,” said Gina Raimondo, the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
BIS has also introduced two new Foreign Direct Product (FDP) rules, which cover items produced overseas using technology or components of US origin.
The new FDP rules cover semiconductor manufacturing equipment, stating that jurisdiction of export rules for units produced overseas extends to foreign-produced goods “ if there is ‘knowledge’ that the foreign-produced commodity is destined” to a sanctioned destination like China or Macau.
The Commerce Department’s rule expansions were anticipated back in August, with the Biden administration moving to slowly tighten loopholes to prevent shipments from falling through the cracks, such as barring shipments of slower versions of existing chip lines.
Thea Rozman Kendler, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration said: “These rules build on previous actions taken in service of our longstanding goal: protecting our collective security by constraining the PRC’s ability to indigenise the most advanced technologies, without unduly interfering with the continuing trade of technology.”
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