U.S. Blocklists 7 Chinese Supercomputing Companies

Washington – U.S. citing national security concerns The Commerce Department on Thursday added seven Chinese supercomputing companies to the economic block list.

The department added Tianjin Phytium Information Technology, Shanghai High Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center, Sunway Micro Electronics, National Supercomputing Center Xenon, National Supercomputing Center Shenzhen, National Supercomputing Center Wuxi and National Supercomputing Center Zhengzhou to its list. Black.

Seven companies have been blacklisted for “building supercomputers used by Chinese military actors, its unsustainable military modernization efforts and / or weapons of its catastrophic plans”.

U.S. officials have long complained that Chinese companies are taking care of the People’s Republic of China and collecting vital information on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army. The Communist Party of China had previously stated that it was not involved in industrial intelligence.

“Many of the high-performance computer capabilities – perhaps almost – are essential for the development of national security systems such as modern weapons and nuclear weapons and hypersonic weapons,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo wrote in a statement.

“The trade sector will use its full powers to prevent China from using US technology to support these destabilizing military modernization efforts,” he added.

The new rules restricting US exports to the companies in question will take effect immediately. However, they do not apply to products coming from existing US suppliers.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

Under former President Donald Trump, the United States added a number of Chinese companies to its blockade list, including Hawaii, the country’s leading smartphone maker, SMIC chipmaker and SZ DJI Technology, the largest drone maker.