Disclosure of Letters to US Tech Companies in 'National Interest': BIS

“We’re normally restricted in the kinds of information that we can provide about company-specific actions,” Kendler said during a Friday call with reporters, “but given the importance of this, we determined it was in the national interest to confirm that we sent letters to specific companies, and the companies must come to us for approval of transactions now involving those kinds of items and activities.”

Less than a month earlier Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices said BIS informed them about specific licensing requirements for some of their products, including certain semiconductors. The requirements “restrict trade and servicing of specific advanced semiconductors essential for highly capable AI applications,” Kendler said, noting they aim to stop exports of items that support certain “military activities” in China. The new licensing requirements also apply to certain activities, she said, including “performing a service or contract that may benefit a Chinese military intelligence end-user.”

“We issued a directive that certain companies must come to the BIS for approval of transactions involving those kinds of items and activities," Kendler said. She said BIS will review those license applications with other agencies, including the Defense, State and Energy departments, “in accordance with national security and foreign policy considerations.”

BIS is reviewing the types of U.S. semiconductors and chipmaking equipment that can be exported to China (see 2207150023). Kendler declined to comment specifically on the review, but she said BIS is continually assessing whether to strengthen or relax dual-use export restrictions to “match the national security and foreign policy landscape.”

“Fortunately, many of our controls are written as floors, so a lot of emerging technologies are already captured in our list of technologies,” Kendler said. “But we are always striving to improve our list and make them more relevant to today's environment.” She said she's “not in a position to outline any specific policy changes right now,” but BIS is “taking a comprehensive approach to implement actions related to technologies, as I noted, and also end uses and end users.”

The agency reportedly plans to expand its chip export controls next month, including for semiconductors used for AI tools (see 2209120007). Some in the semiconductor industry expect updates to BIS end-user policies and the Entity List, plus new restrictions on sensitive technologies, especially semiconductor manufacturing equipment, said a semiconductor industry executive in a recent interview. The person hopes BIS issues the new restrictions “through regular order with a rulemaking” to “avoid poorly written rules that don't achieve the objective and that have significant unintended consequences.”

BIS is also pouring resources into its enforcement efforts, particularly on chip exports to Russia. Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s top export enforcement official, said during the call that BIS isn't seeing “broad-based efforts” by countries in the Asia-Pacific region to send advanced semiconductors to Russia in violation of U.S. export controls. Axelrod said BIS has been doing outreach with U.S. industry and “key” overseas semiconductor suppliers to make sure they’re aware of its licensing requirements.

BIS has also been “searching” for companies to perform end-use checks in the Asia-Pacific region and elsewhere, especially “places that might be diversion points for things, including semiconductors, to go to Russia.”

“We've been trying to take a multifaceted approach to make sure that semiconductors aren't going to Russia in violation of the controls,” Axelrod said. “That doesn't mean that there won't be a one-off here and there, but so far we haven't seen a systematic, widespread evasion when it comes to semiconductors.”