BIS Adds Companies to Entity List for Helping China Make Advanced Chips
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 27 technology companies to the Entity List, mostly in China, for helping Beijing make or procure advanced semiconductors or for supporting the country’s military modernization efforts through AI, the agency said in two final rules released Jan. 15 and effective Jan. 16. It’s also removing three entities tied to an Indian atomic energy agency.
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The added companies will be subject to license requirements for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and licenses will be reviewed under a presumption of denial.
One rule adds 10 Chinese companies to the list for helping the country’s military “through the development and integration of advanced artificial intelligence research," and it adds another company to the list for helping to make advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment in China. That firm, Beijing Keyi Hongyuan Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., is “co-developing lithography technology for advanced-node fabrication facilities in China,” BIS said, which will allow for the “indigenous production in China of advanced integrated circuits for military end-use.”
The second rule adds 14 Chinese companies and two firms based in Singapore to the list for “supporting or directly contributing” to China’s work on advanced chips. BIS said those chips help the country make advanced weapons systems and are used in “high-tech surveillance applications.” The companies also supply Chinese security agencies and end-users and “pose a risk of diversion to Huawei.”
Those 16 companies will be added with a footnote 4 designation, making them subject to certain foreign direct product rule license requirements.
BIS also will remove three entities from the list associated with India’s Department of Atomic Energy: Indian Rare Earths, Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Center and Bhabha Atomic Research Center. The agency said the removals will “support U.S. foreign policy objectives by reducing barriers to advanced energy cooperation, including joint research and development and science and technology cooperation” with India.
Industry had called on BIS to further clarify that certain hospitals and medical centers affiliated with entries on the Entity List aren’t subject to restrictions, such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (see 2111230078).
“The United States and India share a commitment to advancing peaceful nuclear cooperation and associated research and development activities, with strengthened science and technology cooperation over the past several years that has benefitted both countries and their partner countries around the world,” BIS said.
The removals show that there are “incentives for working with the U.S. to further shared foreign policy goals and stronger bilateral relationships,” BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez said.
All exports that now require a license as a result of this rule but were aboard a carrier to a port as of Jan. 16 may proceed to their destinations under the previous eligibility as long as the items are exported before Feb. 18, BIS said. Any items not exported before midnight Feb. 18 will require a license.