US adds export restrictions to more Chinese firms

The Trump administration on Tuesday added 80 companies and organisations to a list of companies that are barred from buying American technology and other exports because of national security concerns.

- ANA SWANSON

The move, which targeted primarily Chinese firms, cracks down on companies that have been big buyers of American chips from Nvidia, Intel and AMD. It also closed loopholes that Trump administration officials have long criticised as allowing Chinese firms to continue to advance technologically despite US restrictions.

One company added to the list, Nettrix Information Industry, was the focus of a 2024 investigation by The New York Times that showed how some Chinese executives had bypassed US restrictions aimed at cutting China off from advanced chips to make artificial intelligence.

Nettrix, one of China's largest makers of computer servers that are used to produce artificial intelligence, was started by a group of former executives from Sugon, a firm that provided advanced computing to the Chinese military and built a system the government used to surveil persecuted minorities in the western Xinjiang region.

In 2019, the United States added Sugon to its "entity list," restricting exports over national security concerns. The Times investigation found that, six months later, the executives formed Nettrix, using Sugon's technology and inheriting some of its customers. Times reporters also found that Nettrix's owners shared a complex in eastern China with Sugon and other related companies.