Even though U.S. export controls haven’t cut into SMIC’s profit margins, they have hurt the Chinese semiconductor company’s ability to advance its chip-producing technology, said Min-Hua Chiang, a Heritage Foundation research fellow. Because restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Industry and Security limit SMIC’s ability to import equipment for making chips below 10 nanometers, the company is “stuck with using older technology,” she wrote in an August post. “Without access to foreign equipment,” the post said, “it will be very difficult for China to produce the most advanced chips any time soon, putting a severe crimp in Beijing’s plans for its military and security apparatus.”
The University of Pennsylvania recently issued an updated version of its export control compliance manual. The new document, released last month, includes an overview of export and sanctions regulations and an outline of Penn’s export control procedures, including information on its technology control plan process, its export control analyses, its recordkeeping procedures and more.
At least 450 kinds of foreign-made parts and components have been found in Russian military equipment captured in Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion earlier this year, the Royal United Services Institute said in a report this week. The majority of those components were manufactured in the U.S., the think tank said, and at least 80 “different kinds of components” are subject to U.S. export controls.
The State Department on Aug. 3 sent a proposed rule for interagency review that would expand the definition of activities that are not exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports. The rule will propose to add “two additional activities” to the definition in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the agency said. The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls in 2019 issued an interim final rule that provided definitions for those activities (see 1912230052) and later published guidance (see 2002210019).
The Bureau of Industry and Security on Aug. 4 sent a final rule for interagency review that would implement certain export control decisions made during the 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement cycle. The rule will revise the Commerce Control List and corresponding parts of the Export Administration Regulations, including License Exception Adjusted Peak Performance, BIS said. The agency recently completed review of a separate rule involving new export control decisions for emerging technologies agreed to at the 2021 Wassenaar plenary (see 2208030007).
President Joe Biden last week extended a national emergency that authorizes certain export control regulations, the White House said. Biden renewed the emergency for one year beyond Aug. 17.
The Bureau of Industry and Security completed an interagency review of an interim final rule involving new export control decisions for emerging technologies agreed to at the 2021 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary. The rule, which was first sent for interagency review March 8 (see 2203090009), was completed Aug. 2. It will harmonize the Commerce Control List with a portion of Wassenaar’s 2021 decisions for certain “recently developed or developing technologies,” BIS said.
The State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls this week issued 18 frequently asked questions to provide guidance on its new open general license pilot program (see 2207190008 and 2207200005). The FAQs clarify the parameters of the two open general licenses, describe what kinds of transactions and activities they cover, detail who can use the licenses and more. In one FAQ, DDTC said it may issue more open general licenses “depending on its experience with, and observations made during, the pilot program.”
The Bureau of Industry and Security has drafted a prerule that could lead to new emerging technology export controls on “instruments for the automated chemical synthesis of peptides.” The proposed rule, which was mentioned in the agency’s spring regulatory agenda (see 2206270007), would seek public comments on the controls and help BIS determine whether the instruments could provide the U.S. or its adversaries a “qualitative military or intelligence advantage.” BIS sent the rule for interagency review Aug. 1.
The U.S. is preparing several new restrictions on exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China to further impede Beijing’s semiconductor capabilities, according to multiple reports.