US officials this month are considering discussing a Defense Department proposal to close the regulatory loopholes that would allow Chinese chipmaker SMIC to buy crucial US technology, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Some Commerce Department officials are trying to block the Defense Department’s proposal, the Journal added, citing people familiar with the matter.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) was added to a US blacklist last year that has denied it access to advanced manufacturing equipment from US suppliers because of its alleged ties to the Chinese military, the company claims.
SMIC, China’s largest contract chip maker, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
In the coming months, US officials are also considering adding more Chinese tech companies to the Commerce Department’s entity list and to the Treasury list that bans US investment, the Journal added.
On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives passed legislation to ban imports from China’s Xinjiang region over concerns over forced labor.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
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