Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Bureau of Industry and Security added 13 Chinese entities to the Entity List that are involved in developing advanced computing semiconductors that may be used for activities that threaten U.S. national security, the agency announced this week. Each of the entities will be subject to license requirements for all items subject to the Export Administration Regulations, including BIS foreign direct product rule restrictions. Licenses will be reviewed under a presumption of denial.

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week released a range of updates to its Oct. 7, 2022, China chip controls, unveiling two rules that will impose new license requirements on additional chips and chipmaking tools, make revisions to its U.S. persons restrictions, expand licensing requirements for exports of certain chipmaking items to U.S. arms-embargoed countries, create a new notification requirement and introduce other measures to address export control circumvention risks.

The Bureau of Industry and Security last week completed a round of interagency review for an interim final rule that could update U.S. export controls on semiconductor manufacturing items. The rule underwent some changes during interagency review, which began Oct. 4 and was completed Oct. 13 (see 2310050015). The rule is distinct from the upcoming BIS rule that will finalize its Oct. 7, 2022, chip controls related to China (see 2310110030).

The Bureau of Industry and Security today will release a range of updates to its 2022 China chip rule, including new restrictions on several dozen additional chip tools and related items, updated export control parameters for chips used in artificial intelligence applications, a novel notification requirement for certain “gray-zone” chips that fall just below that updated threshold, a new license requirement for chip exports to companies headquartered in nations subject to a U.S. arms embargo and more. BIS also added 13 Chinese companies to the Entity List, effective Oct. 17, for developing advanced chips in ways BIS said are contrary to U.S. national security.

The Bureau of Industry and Security officially released the texts of two rules to update its Oct. 7, 2022, China chip controls, including an interim final rule that will update controls on certain semiconductor manufacturing items and another interim final rule that will update restrictions on certain advanced computing items, supercomputer and semiconductor end-uses and make other updates and corrections.

Logistics companies, especially those based in China, should closely examine their U.S. export control risks, particularly after the Commerce Department added a range of Chinese logistics firms to the Entity List earlier this month for their involvement in microelectronics exports to Russia (see 2310060044), major Asian law firm King & Wood Mallesons said in a client alert last week.

The Bureau of Industry and Security this week will officially extend authorizations for South Korean semiconductor companies Samsung and SK Hynix to allow them to continue supplying certain controlled chip equipment to their Chinese factories. The move -- which formalizes authorizations that have applied to both companies since the agency issued its China chip rule Oct. 7, 2022 -- underscores the importance of the Korean chip industry to global semiconductor supply, BIS officials said.

A House bill that could apply blocking sanctions on a host of Chinese companies included on various government denied party lists would “create enormous problems” for U.S. companies doing business in China, said William Reinsch, a former Commerce Department official and current Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

A spokesperson for South Korean semiconductor company SK Hynix said the company welcomed the recent U.S. decision to allow the firm to continue supplying its China factories with certain chipmaking tools (see 2310100051). In an Oct. 10 email, the spokesperson confirmed that SK Hynix received a “waiver with regard to the export control regulations” and said the company “greatly appreciate[d]” the South Korean and U.S. governments “for working closely with the companies through close communication and consultation until the decision is reached.”