US adds China's YMTC and 30 other firms to 'unverified' trade list
Flags of U.S. and China are seen in this illustration picture taken August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday (Oct 7) added China's top memory chipmaker YMTC and 30 other Chinese entities to a list of companies that US officials have been unable to inspect, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing and taking aim at a firm that has long troubled the Biden administration.
The new listings are the first of a slew of new restrictions expected on exports of technology to China aimed at blocking its military advances.
As Reuters exclusively reported on Thursday, the United States is also set to curb access to chipmaking tools for Chinese firms including Chinese Yantze Memory Technologies (YMTC), while still allowing South Korean memory chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix to obtain the equipment for their operations in China.
US senators from both parties have been calling for YMTC, China's fast-growing chip manufacturer, to be placed on a trade blacklist known as the "entity list." The company, founded in 2016, is seen as a "direct threat" to US chip companies by the Biden administration.
YMTC and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
YMTC is under investigation by the Commerce Department over whether it violated US export controls by selling chips to blacklisted Chinese telecommunications company Huawei. Its chips also are being evaluated by Apple for inclusion in some of its iPhones in China, a major concern for US lawmakers and the Biden administration.
Companies are added to the unverified list because the United States could not complete on-site visits to determine whether they can be trusted to receive sensitive technology exports from the United States.
US exporters must conduct additional due diligence before sending goods to entities placed on the "unverified list," like the 31 added on Friday, and may have to apply for more licenses.
The United States removed Wuxi Biologics from the list on Friday, good news for the maker of ingredients for AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine. Reuters reported in July that US officials had been able to conduct an inspection at the company, a stepping stone to removal from the list.
Wuxi Biologics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
