U.S. semiconductor export controls on China lack a clear “endgame,” said Michael Mazarr, a senior political scientist with the RAND think tank. He said the controls are a “perfect example” of a U.S. policy approach that embraces “competition for its own sake and rushing down blind alleys without a clear sense of where policy will lead.”
New export compliance guidance issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security outlines the agency’s due diligence expectations for financial institutions and warns that companies that “self-blind” to red flags could face penalties.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao urged U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo this week to lift U.S. semiconductor export restrictions against China (see 2211010042 and 2302020034) and reverse its proposed import restrictions on Chinese connected vehicles (see 2409220001), saying the two countries need to reach a clearer understanding around their national security-related trade policies.
Norway is adding a new annex to its export control list to cover a set of “critical goods and technologies” that aren’t currently subject to export licensing requirements, including certain advanced semiconductors and quantum computers, according to an unofficial translation of an Oct. 3 notice from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The new annex, effective Nov. 1, will cover items that “are considered disruptive technologies or emerging technologies that are of such a nature that they should be subject to control,” the ministry said.
Paul Ledet has joined U.S. semiconductor company AMD as its director of trade compliance, he announced on LinkedIn. Ledet previously helped oversee trade compliance and classification for National Instruments.
The Bureau of Industry and Security is expanding its Validated End User program to include a new export authorization for data centers, which could allow certain preapproved data facilities to more quickly obtain advanced semiconductors and other U.S.-controlled items with artificial intelligence uses.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has held two hearings this year on U.S. computing chips ending up in Russian weapons, plans to hold more hearings on the subject, its chairman said last week.
More than 70 members of the House of Representative are asking the administration to ask the European Union to delay its deforestation reporting requirements, which they say would be impossible to meet for wood chips and fluff pulp, used in menstrual pads and diapers.
Export controls on American technology are helping the U.S. maintain its technological lead over foreign competitors, and the Biden administration plans to follow that blueprint for restrictions around quantum technologies, said Don Graves, deputy secretary of the Commerce Department.
Companies involved in the quantum computing, semiconductor manufacturing, additive manufacturing and other advanced technology industries covered by a recent Bureau of Industry and Security export control rule should review their compliance programs to make sure they can manage the upcoming license requirements, Gibson Dunn said in a client alert.