The United States has imposed penalties on two Chinese companies that acquired American-made chipmaking equipment for China’s leading chip manufacturer, SMIC. These two firms are among 32 entities added to the Commerce Department’s restricted trade list, with 23 of them based in China.
According to a report from the Federal Register, GMC Semiconductor Technology (Wuxi) Co. and Jicun Semiconductor Technology were placed on the list, known as the Entity List, for procuring equipment for SMIC Northern Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (Beijing) Corp. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corporation.
The SMIC companies were already on the Entity List, and shipping U.S. equipment to them would require licenses, which would likely have been denied.
Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics Technology Co., a company involved in the production of high-performance computing chips, along with its associated companies and other entities in China, Singapore, and Taiwan, were also added to the list. The reason for their inclusion was their acquisition of U.S.-origin items “in support of China’s military modernization, for participating in China’s advanced computing and integrated manufacturing and distribution sectors, and directly supplying the military, government, and security apparatus of China.”
Additionally, the Commerce Department noted that Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics has supplied technology to Russian military end-users, leading to an extra restriction on the company.
The targeted companies were not immediately available for comment. Entities from India, Iran, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates were also included on the new list.
