The U.S. this week unveiled new trade and financial restrictions against people and companies across more than 17 countries for helping Russia evade sanctions or for supporting the country’s military, adding nearly 400 to the Treasury Department’s sanctions list and more than 40 to the Commerce Department’s Entity List. Another move by Commerce will tighten existing controls on nearly 50 entities that it said are procuring U.S.-branded microelectronics for Russia.

The Treasury Department's new final rule for outbound investment received mixed reviews from Congress this week.

The leaders of the House Select Committee on China urged the Commerce Department this week to prevent American know-how and investment from supporting the development of China’s photonic semiconductor sector.

The Treasury Department's new outbound investment rules will officially take effect Jan. 2, creating new prohibitions and notification requirements to limit certain U.S. business activities in China’s semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum sectors. The 297-page final rule, released in pre-publication form Oct. 28, adopts many of Treasury’s proposed regulations issued in June (see 2406210034) with a host of notable tweaks and clarifications, including a more detailed description for the rules’ AI investment threshold and insight into the agency’s due diligence expectations for U.S. companies.

The U.S. government could face a host of challenges if it tries to place export controls on AI models to protect national security, the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) said in an article last week.

The Treasury Department issued a pre-publication version of the final regulations for its outbound investment program, which will set new prohibitions and notification requirements to limit certain U.S. business activities in the semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum sectors of mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau beginning Jan. 2. The final rule, released Oct. 28, adopts many of the regulations proposed by the agency earlier this year along with a host of notable tweaks, clarifications and refinements, including a more detailed description for the rules’ AI investment threshold, insight into the agency’s due diligence expectations for U.S. companies and updates to the scope of exempt transactions.

The White House this week issued a memorandum on advancing U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence, directing federal agencies to take “concrete and impactful steps” to make sure the U.S. remains at the forefront of AI development and that the technology helps instead of harms national security. The memo calls on the Commerce Department, the State Department, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and other agencies to “improve the security and diversity of chip supply chains,” according to a fact sheet, and to protect advanced AI technologies from foreign theft.

While the Biden and Trump administrations both frequently imposed financial sanctions and export controls on China, the Biden administration has made greater use of two key tools: the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List and the Commerce Department’s Entity List. That's according to a new report by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

The Commerce Department declined to say whether it’s investigating Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for a possible breach of export controls against Huawei but is aware of public reporting about the issue, an agency spokesperson said Oct. 24.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company recently spoke with Commerce Department about a possible export control issue involving one of its advanced chips, a company spokepserson said. TSMC "proactively communicated with the US Commerce Department regarding the matter," the person said Oct. 23. "We are not aware of TSMC being the subject of any investigation at this time."