CXMT hit with new U.S. export restrictions

The U.S. Commerce Department is preparing a fresh round of export restrictions to place several Chinese semiconductor companies on the entity list, deepening Washington’s effort to curb Beijing’s access to advanced chip technology.

Draft documents compiled by the Bureau of Industry and Security show ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) at the top of the proposed additions, alongside subsidiaries of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. Although SMIC and YMTC already appear on the list, officials argue that sweeping in their subsidiaries would close existing loopholes.

Some officials contend that an immediate announcement could undercut the 90-day tariff reprieve agreed in Geneva last weekend, a concession meant to give Washington and Beijing space to negotiate a broader trade accord. Others counter that delaying the blacklist would repeat earlier pauses critics dubbed “zombie diplomacy,” weakening the United States’ negotiating position.

National-security agencies back the move, asserting that Chinese firms have leveraged U.S. tools and know-how to accelerate military programs ranging from hypersonic missiles to nuclear-weapon modelling. Once on the entity list, companies must obtain hard-to-secure licenses before American suppliers may ship equipment, software, or components.

Beijing has condemned previous additions to the list as an abuse of export controls. At the same time, a House of Representatives’ committee on China said further listings are warranted unless the Chinese government reins in what it called “weaponized capitalism.”

The Hefei-based manufacturer began volume production of DDR5 memory in late 2024 and is investing heavily in high-bandwidth memory, a critical component for large-scale artificial-intelligence workloads. Restricting its access to U.S. gear could slow that expansion and tighten the supply of domestically produced DRAM in China.