Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for July 26-30 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Bureau of Industry and Security is “very busy” working to implement the semiconductor supply chain recommendations (see 2107140047) that arose from President Joe Biden’s February executive order (see 2102240068), including directives to pursue more collaboration with industry and a review of export controls and investment restrictions, a senior BIS official said. Sahar Hafeez, a senior adviser at BIS, said the agency will continue implementing those recommendations “in the weeks and months ahead.”

The U.S. should pursue more cooperation around multilateral export controls to address the supply chain risks within the semiconductor industry, Bureau of Industry and Security Senior Adviser Sahar Hafeez told the Information Technology Industry Council. Hafeez, speaking to ITI along with technology policy officials from the European Union and South Korea during a virtual panel last week, also stressed the importance of domestic chip investment.

Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories for July 19-23 in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

Yi-Chi Shih, a Hollywood Hills, California, resident, was sentenced to over five years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally ship integrated circuits with military applications to China, the Department of Justice said July 22. Shih was convicted of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Regulations and fined more than $600,000 in fines and restitution to the IRS (see 1907020071).

A group of technology, auto, manufacturing and semiconductor groups urged congressional leaders to fund the CHIPS for America Act so the semiconductor industry can begin benefiting from tax credits and other incentives to boost U.S. semiconductor innovation (see 2107160040). The groups, including the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged Congress in a July 22 letter to “expeditiously” approve funding for the bill and other programs to support the chip industry. “These initiatives will help grow the U.S. economy, create hundreds of thousands of good-paying middle-class jobs in advanced manufacturing and other fields, unleash billions in private sector investments, assure the supply of critical components essential to virtually all sectors of the economy, and strengthen our national security,” the groups wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The U.S. shouldn’t rely on export controls on semiconductors to stay ahead of China because the strategy would likely “backfire,” a former Department of Defense official told Congress this week. Lisa Porter, the former deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said government intervention in supply chains can “distort the market in ways that are hard to predict” and could lead to unintended consequences for the microelectronics industry.

Supply chain resilience requires diversification with allies and away from China, witnesses said during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, but they cautioned senators that improving resilience is complicated, and that government intervention can have unintended consequences. The committee was examining how Commerce Department implementation of the recent China package, once called Endless Frontier, could reduce supply chain failures in the future.

While the Biden administration has made clear its intentions to pursue stronger export controls over advanced semiconductor-related equipment, companies should also be prepared to see potential export controls over a range of other sectors that the U.S. deems to be too reliant on China, Baker McKenzie trade lawyer Kerry Contini said. Contini, speaking during a July 14 Baker McKenzie conference, pointed specifically to President Joe Biden’s February executive order to address supply chain issues (see 2102240068), which mentions the medical and agricultural sectors as well as the chip industry.

The Biden administration is preparing to launch new export controls and investment screening initiatives to more closely coordinate with allies and better combat Chinese attempts to acquire advanced technologies, the U.S. secretary of state and national security adviser said July 13. Although the administration supports offensive tools, such as more funding for the domestic semiconductor sector, both officials said the U.S will continue to evolve its approach to defensive trade restrictions.