BIS Adds China Tech Companies, Others to Entity List
The Bureau of Industry and Security is adding 82 entities, mostly in mainland China, to the Entity List, targeting technology companies, chip firms, electronics businesses and others for their ties to Chinese military end-users. The additions, the first since President Donald Trump took office in January, also target entities in Taiwan, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa and Iran for a range of reasons that BIS said are “contrary to the national security and foreign policy” of the U.S.
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The entities will face license requirements for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, and licenses will be reviewed either under a presumption of denial or policy of denial. Some of the entities also will face additional foreign direct product rule restrictions.
Jeffrey Kessler, BIS undersecretary, said the agency is "sending a clear, resounding message that the Trump administration will work tirelessly to safeguard our national security by preventing U.S. technologies and goods from being misused for high performance computing, hypersonic missiles, military aircraft training, and UAVs that threaten our national security."
One set of additions, outlined in a final rule effective March 25, adds 12 China-based companies and one Taiwanese company for trying to procure export-controlled items for the country’s military, including through the development of large artificial intelligence models and advanced computing chips for “defense purposes,” BIS said. Other entities in the rule were listed for being subsidiaries of China’s leading cloud computing service provider, Inspur Group, which was added to the Entity List in 2023 (see 2303020083), and another set of companies was added for helping to develop Chinese exascale supercomputers, which can process “vast amounts of data at very high speeds and conducting large-scale simulations.”
BIS said those companies developing exascale supercomputers “provided significant manufacturing capabilities” to Sugon, a Chinese computer manufacturing firm added to the Entity List in 2019 (see 1906210046). The agency said Sugon builds supercomputers for China’s military.
All the entities listed in the rule were added to the Entity List with a footnote 4 designation, meaning they’re subject to certain restrictions under the BIS Entity List FDP rule (see 2202020021), including license requirements for certain foreign-made items.
All exports that now require a license as a result of this rule but were aboard a carrier to a port as of March 25 may proceed to their destinations under the previous eligibility, BIS said. Any items not exported before midnight April 24 will require a license.
A separate final rule, also released March 25 but not effective until March 28, will add 42 entities in China, 19 in Pakistan, four in the UAE, three in South Africa and two in Iran to the Entity List. It also will revise the existing Entity List entries for an aviation company’s branches in France, Iran, Senegal and the U.K.
Some of the Chinese companies were added for helping China advance its quantum technology capabilities, which BIS said has “serious ramifications for U.S. national security given the military applications of quantum technologies.” The agency said both Hong Kong-based Scikro Instruments Limited and Shanghai-based Scikro Instrument Co. have supplied “dilution refrigerators,” which can be used to cool quantum systems, to Chinese parties on the Entity List, while Anhui Kehua Sci-Tech Trading, Physike Technology Co. and other businesses have tried to illegally buy U.S. items to help China’s quantum industry.
The agency also added Singleton Electronics Technology Co. and Suzhou SIP Hi-Tech Precision Electronics Co. for selling products to Chinese companies that supply Entity List companies, including major telecommunications firm Huawei and chip firm HiSilicon. A range of other Chinese companies were added for buying or trying to buy U.S. items for China’s military.
“These entities have demonstrable ties to activities of concern, including hypersonic weapons development, the design and modeling of vehicles in hypersonic flight, or using proprietary software to model weapons design and effects, or have otherwise supported China’s military civil fusion efforts,” BIS said.
Other companies in China and Iran were added to the Entity List for using “deceptive practices” to evade export controls and ship U.S. technology to the Iranian government, BIS said, while other companies in China, South Africa and the UAE were added because of their links to the Entity Listed Test Flying Academy of South Africa and the training of Chinese military officers using “Western and NATO sources” (see 2407020010).
BIS listed another tranche of companies in Pakistan and China either contributing to Pakistan’s “unsafeguarded nuclear activities” or ballistic missile program.
The rule also modifies the existing entity for Dart Aviation by adding two aliases and one address for the company’s locations in France, Iran, Senegal and the U.K.
All exports that now require a license as a result of this rule but were aboard a carrier to a port as of March 28 may proceed to their destinations under the previous eligibility as long as the items are exported before April 28, BIS said. Any items not exported before midnight April 28 will require a license.