WASHINGTON: The United States has added 80 companies from various countries, including Pakistan, to its export blacklist. The US added six subsidiaries of Inspur Group, China’s leading cloud computing and big data service provider, and dozens of other Chinese entities to its export restriction list on Tuesday.
The Inspur units were listed for contributing to the development of supercomputers for the Chinese military, the Commerce Department said in a posting. Five of the subsidiaries are based in China and one in Taiwan. Inspur Group itself was placed on the list in 2023.
The Inspur units are among about 80 companies and institutes added to the export control list on Tuesday. Over 50 are based in China. Others are in Taiwan, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
The listings are intended to restrict China’s ability to develop high-performance computing capabilities, quantum technologies and advanced AI, and impede China’s development of its hypersonic weapons program.
“We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
China’s foreign ministry, in response to an enquiry on Wednesday, condemned the US move and said the country will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said on Tuesday it firmly opposed “these acts taken by the US and demand that it immediately stop using military-related issues as pretexts to politicize, instrumentalize and weaponize trade and tech issues.”
The Inspur Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US also seeks to disrupt Iran’s procurement of drones and related defense items and to prevent development of its ballistic missile program and unsafeguarded nuclear activities.
The government adds companies to the Commerce Department’s Entity List for national security or foreign policy concerns. Companies cannot sell goods to those listed without applying for and obtaining licenses, which are likely to be denied.
Commerce official Jeffrey Kessler said the administration aims to prevent “US technologies and goods from being misused for high performance computing, hypersonic missiles, military aircraft training, and UAVs (drones) that threaten our national security.”
When Inspur Group was placed on the list in 2023, executives from AMD (AMD.O), opens new tab and Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab were questioned about their dealings with the company. At the time, chip industry insiders and their advisers said firms were trying to assess whether they had to halt supplying Inspur’s subsidiaries.
