For months China Tech Threat and other national security leaders have pressed the Commerce Department to put Chinese military-linked chipmaker YMTC on the Entity list. That move would prohibit U.S. firms from selling high-tech tools to YMTC – a much-needed step to protect Americans’ privacy and national security.
Unfortunately, YMTC this week announced the ability to develop 232-layer chips, a major technological breakthrough. Any new Commerce Department export controls targeting YTMC will now be too little, too late.
Forbes columnist and China Tech Threat co-founder Roslyn Layton’s new column elaborates on the problem:
The Commerce Department is clearly failing on its mission to promote and protect US technologies from China. Many of its existing restrictions are not enforced, and bad players don’t get blacklisted. YMTC should have been on the Entity List years ago; now it’s poised to become the global champion. It looks like CXMT will be another one that gets away if Commerce doesn’t act. One thing is certain: US tool makers book record profits while Americans’ privacy and security take the backseat.
This missed opportunity should motivate the Commerce Department to tackle CXMT, another chipmaker doing work with the Chinese military that the Chinese government intends to turn into a national champion and displace other firms from the global chip marketplace.
Read the column in its entirety here.