The U.S. Department of Commerce published a list of Chinese and Russian companies with military ties on Monday. U.S. companies will be restricted from selling certain goods and technology to those named.
The final list includes 103 entities, 14 fewer than on a draft obtained by Reuters in November. Fifty-eight are Chinese companies, 31 fewer than before.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the list will “assist exporters in screening their customers for military end users.”
Only days before, the Department of Commerce added more than 60 Chinese companies to the Entity List, including China’s largest semiconductor maker, SMIC.
“China’s corrupt and bullying behavior both inside and outside its borders harms U.S. national security interests,” Secretary Ross said in a statement Friday. “Commerce will act to ensure that America’s technology—developed and produced according to open and free-market principles—is not used for malign or abusive purposes.”
Through its Military-Civil Fusion campaign, China has increasingly sought to obtain sensitive U.S.-made technologies through state-sponsored companies. Those dual-use technologies—which can be found in common consumer goods but also used for military capabilities—are then shared with China’s People’s Liberation Army.
In September the Trump Administration placed restrictions on SMIC that required U.S. companies to obtain a license to sell certain technologies to the Chinese chip maker. The Entity List designation goes further to require a license for all U.S.-made exports. License are considered under a “presumption of denial.”
Over the past three years the Trump administration has added over 300 Chinese companies to the Entity List. SMIC stock fell nearly 5% during trading Monday in Hong Kong after it was added. “Entity list designations have had uneven effects,” Dan Wang, an analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics told the Wall Street Journal. But, “SMIC is likely to suffer more rather than less given its dependence on U.S.-origin equipment.”