US Confirms Move To Blacklist China Chipmaker SMIC

The United States confirmed on Friday it will add dozens of Chinese companies, including the country's top chipmaker, SMIC, to a trade blacklist.

The move is seen as the latest in President Donald Trump's efforts to cement his tough-on-China legacy. It comes just weeks before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is set to take office on January 20.

The US Commerce Department confirmed the decision, saying the action "stems from China’s military-civil fusion (MCF) doctrine and evidence of activities between SMIC and entities of concern in the Chinese military industrial complex."

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement that the department would "not allow advanced US technology to help build the military of an increasingly belligerent adversary."

Ross said the government would presumptively deny licences to prevent SMIC from accessing technology to produce semiconductors at advanced technology levels - 10 nanometers or below.

Ross said in a Fox Business interview that the United States was adding a total of 77 companies and affiliates to the so-called entity list, including 60 Chinese companies. Reuters reported earlier the department was adding about 80 companies, most of them Chinese.

The Foreign Ministry said that if true, the blacklisting would be evidence of US oppression of Chinese companies and that Beijing would continue to take "necessary measures" to protect their rights.

"We urge the US to cease its mistaken behaviour of unwarranted oppression of foreign companies," ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a regular news conference in Beijing on Friday.

SMIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The designations by the Commerce Department include some entities in China that enable alleged human rights abuses and some helping it construct and militarise artificial islands in the South China Sea, the department said.

It also cited entities that acquired US-origin items in support of the People’s Liberation Army’s programmes, and entities and persons that engaged in the theft of US trade secrets.

Companies previously added to the list include telecoms equipment giants Huawei Technologies and 150 affiliates, and ZTE over sanction violations, as well as surveillance camera maker Hikvision over suppression of China's Uighur minority. (Reuters)