The Bureau of Industry and Security added 31 Chinese entities to its Unverified List, including semiconductor firm Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., it said in a final rule effective Oct. 7. BIS said it hasn’t been able to verify the “legitimacy and reliability” of the entities through end-use checks, including their ability to responsibly receive controlled U.S. exports. All export license exceptions involving those parties will be suspended, and exporters must obtain a statement from any party listed on the UVL before proceeding with certain exports.

Taiwan is “constantly” examining its export controls to make sure they’re capturing sensitive technologies, although it remains unclear if the controls will be discussed within its “Chip 4” alliance with the U.S., South Korea and Japan, a senior Taiwan official said this week. Chen Chern-chyi, Taiwan’s deputy economic affairs minister, said the four countries recently held a preparatory meeting for the alliance, but the group hasn’t yet set a formal agenda or scheduled an official first session, according to an Oct. 5 Nikkei report. He said the alliance is mainly “to work with our partners to form a resilient supply chain.”

The U.S. could issue new export controls on China, including restrictions on technologies used in high-performance computing and advanced semiconductors, as soon as this week, The New York Times reported Oct. 3. The report calls the new measures “some of the most significant steps taken by the Biden administration to cut off China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology,” adding they may include a “broad expansion” of the foreign direct product rule to cover additional Chinese firms.

The Commerce Department on Sept. 29 appointed members to its recently established Industrial Advisory Committee, which will provide the agency with guidance on semiconductor issues as it implements the CHIPS for America Act. The 24 committee members -- including officials from chips firms, car companies and academics -- will provide “advice on the science and technology needs” of the U.S. microelectronics industry. The Semiconductor Industry Association applauded the announcement, saying it’s “critical for government, industry, and academia to work collaboratively to ensure the new funding bridges key gaps in the current semiconductor [research and development] ecosystem.”

The U.S. last week announced a host of new sanctions and export controls against Russia, targeting Russian defense and technology companies, Russian government officials and various suppliers for supporting the country's military. The measures include hundreds of new designations and 57 additions to the Entity List, most of which will be subject to certain foreign direct product rule restrictions.

The U.S. and its allies should modernize the way they approach export controls and reboot regimes that have so far failed to keep China from acquiring sensitive technologies, said Mark Hewitt, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for corporate strategy. Martin, speaking during a Sept. 27 defense industry conference hosted by IDEEA, said many current export regimes are outdated.

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Although President Joe Biden’s recent executive order on foreign direct investment isn’t expected to significantly change review outcomes, it sends a clear signal to industry about the U.S.’s FDI priorities and could help companies better understand whether they should submit a voluntary filing, law firms said this month. One firm said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. may use the order as further reason to reach out to businesses about non-notified transactions.

Although U.S. human rights sanctions against China (see 2204010039) may be imposing some financial consequences, they aren’t convincing Beijing to stop committing abuses, Chris Chivvis, a former State Department sanctions official, said during a webinar last week hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He said the U.S. may need to take a different tack with China if it wants to achieve its policy goals. Chivvis directs Carnegie's American Statecraft Program.

The director of national intelligence should study how a potential “supplier partnership arrangement” between China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and Apple would affect U.S. national security, four senators said in a Sept. 21 bipartisan letter to DNI Avril Haines. The study should assess how China supports YMTC as part of a plan to advance its domestic semiconductor industry, how YMTC potentially helps Chinese firms evade U.S. sanctions and YMTC’s role in China’s civil-military fusion program.