The US is planning to add dozens of Chinese companies, including the country’s biggest chipmaker, SMIC, to the same trade blacklist that has cut off telecommunications equipment giant Huawei from American technology and components, Reuters reported Friday.
Details: The US is expected to add around 80 new companies to the so-called entity list, nearly all of them Chinese, according to Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter. American firms are barred from exporting technology and key components to companies on the blacklist without government approval.
- China’s biggest chip manufacturer, Shanghai-based Semiconductors Manufacturing International Corp., and some of its affiliates are expected to be included in the entity list designation, it said.
- The blacklisting would force SMIC to seek a special license from the US Commerce Department before buying key goods from American suppliers.
- Such restrictions could potentially curb SMIC’s ability to source US-made chip-designing software, raw material, and machinery needed for the company’s semiconductor production.
Go deeper: Exclusive-U.S. to blacklist dozens of Chinese firms including SMIC, sources say – Reuters