Prices of certain chips sold in China's black market have risen "by 500 times" since the U.S. announced new semiconductor-related export controls earlier this year, according to an unofficial translation of a Dec. 27 report by United Daily News in Taiwan. The report said "the demand for high-end chips in mainland China is hot, making local black market transactions hot" and "chip smuggling increasingly rampant."
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The 2023 government spending package (see 2212200025) includes language that could eventually lead to the establishment of a formal outbound investment review mechanism. The provision, included in explanatory statements covering funding for the Treasury and Commerce departments, could speed up the administration's efforts to create the regime, which has been proposed this year in legislation by lawmakers and publicly supported by senior administration officials.
Chinese imports of chipmaking “machines” dropped in November to their lowest levels in two years, Bloomberg reported Dec. 21. Chinese companies reported $2.3 billion worth of imports of the machines last month, a 40% drop from the previous year and the lowest level since May 2020, the report said. The drop comes amid new U.S. export restrictions on semiconductor items to China (see 2210070049, 2211010042 and 2212060059).
On the last day of the current Congress, retiring Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, introduced a bill that would ask the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to analyze the economic integration between the U.S. and China in priority sectors, and the U.S. government's views of how that integration should change over the next five to 19 years.
Several U.S. technology companies recently disclosed their ongoing efforts to comply with new export restrictions against China (see 2210070049), with some determining the regulations will have little effect and others saying the uncertainty is leading to business interruptions.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Bureau of Industry and Security granted an export license for U.S. chip company Nexcel Electronic Technology (NETI) after the company told BIS that new restrictions on China would force NETI to shut down and fire all its employees. NETI, which provides certain semiconductor services to Chinese companies, was granted a four-year license to continue its operations, the company’s lawyer and trade consultant told Export Compliance Daily.
China officially requested dispute consultations with the U.S. at the World Trade Organization Dec. 15 over American export controls on certain semiconductors, the WTO announced. China, which announced the move earlier in the week (see 2212120061), said the restrictions violate Article XXII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT), Article XXII of the General Agreement on Trade in Services, Article 8 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures and Article 64.1 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.
The Bureau of Industry and Security added a host of Chinese and Russian entities to the Entity List, including top Chinese chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and leading Chinese artificial intelligence firms, the agency said in a pair of notices released Dec. 15. The new restrictions on the Chinese firms are aimed at “severely restricting” China’s ability to leverage AI, advanced computing and other commercial technologies for its military or human rights abuses, BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez said. The agency added the Russian entities to the list after it was unable to complete end-use checks. The changes took effect Dec. 16.