The U.S., this time on a blacklist of 7 Chinese supercomputer companies

Recently, the US-China trade war is fierce. The US government has taken embargo to blacklist SMIC, China’s largest semiconductor foundry, and DJI, a drone company. On April 8, 2021 (local time), the US Department of Commerce found that seven new companies and organizations related to Chinese supercomputer development were blacklisted for national security concerns.

In the days of former President Trump, he blacklisted numerous Chinese companies, including Huawei and Xiaomi, and took steps to prohibit US government agencies and telecommunications companies from buying products from these companies or from exporting parts by US companies. It was also pointed out that the blacklist would be lifted after President Biden took power, but the U.S. Department of Commerce said seven new Chinese subsidiaries (Tianjin Phytium Information Technology, Shanghai High-Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center, Sunway Microelectronics, the National Supercomputing). Center Jinan · the National Supercomputing Center Shenzhen · the National Supercomputing Center Wuxi · the National Supercomputing Center Zhengzhou) have been added to the blacklist.

These companies are companies and organizations related to supercomputer development. The US Department of Commerce argued that Chinese military officials were involved in unstable military modernization efforts and building supercomputers for weapons of mass destruction programs. The US authorities have accused Chinese companies of collecting personal information on behalf of the military with support from the Chinese government and engaging in espionage activities for several years.

Regarding this announcement, Secretary of Commerce Gina Rumando said that supercomputing capabilities are essential for the development of almost all modern weapons and national security systems, including nuclear and supersonic weapons, to prevent China from using US technology to support these unstable military modernization activities. He said he would use the capabilities of the Department of Commerce to the fullest.

The rules for exporting products to businesses that are targeted by U.S. companies under this blacklist come into effect immediately. However, this rule does not apply to in-transit products already shipped from US suppliers. Related information can be found here.