Pacific Biosciences of California, an American biotechnology firm, said it recently informed the Bureau of Industry and Security about possible export violations involving China.
Semiconductor companies Nvidia and AMD are expected to pay the U.S. government a portion of the profits they earn from selling certain controlled chips to China, an arrangement that has sparked concerns and questions among exporters, lawmakers and former government officials.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has named Robby Saunders, a former senior adviser with both BIS and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the agency's new deputy assistant secretary for technology security. Saunders was the former vice president of national security at the Coalition for Prosperous America before joining Scott's staff in 2023 and BIS in March, according to her LinkedIn. She replaces longtime senior BIS official Eric Longnecker (see 2505050005),
The Bureau of Industry and Security sent a final rule for interagency review that would revise Biden-era regulations that increased restrictions on firearms exports. The rule, sent for review Aug. 4, is expected to reverse some of those restrictions amid lobbying from gun industry advocates (see 2505290012). Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in June that the Biden-era rule was "inconsistent with our views" (see 2506050050).
The U.S. last week arrested and accused two Chinese nationals of using a California-based company to illegally export tens of millions of dollars' worth of advanced AI semiconductors to China, including by first transshipping the chips through Malaysia and Singapore.
The Trump administration plans to maintain strict China-related export controls on the most advanced semiconductors and chip manufacturing equipment, a senior White House official said last week, adding that the U.S. also doesn’t plan to automatically greenlight all H20 chip exports to China.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the committee, urged the Trump administration July 31 to reinstate provisions of the recently rescinded AI diffusion export control rule that are designed to discourage U.S. companies from offshoring critical AI infrastructure and ensure that the technology that is exported is not misused.
The Trump administration appears to be avoiding new China-related controls on sensitive semiconductor manufacturing equipment because it fears those restrictions could impede a trade deal, a technology policy researcher said this week. Other researchers said the administration isn’t using its chip bargaining power correctly, adding that the U.S. should be getting more for the deals it has made so far with Gulf nations and potentially others in the future.
The Bureau of Industry and Security fined an industrial equipment supplier more than $1.57 million after the agency said it illegally exported refiner plates to Russia. The company, Pennsylvania-based Andritz Inc., committed 36 violations of the Export Administration Regulations by shipping more than $3.1 million worth of the plates without a license between May 2023 and February 2024, BIS said.
Michael Pender, a former longtime senior engineer with the Bureau of Industry and Security, is joining legal and advisory firm Fenwick as a trade analyst, he announced on LinkedIn. Pender left BIS at the end of April after first joining the agency in 2004.