Trump adding Chinese chipmaker SMIC to blacklist

The Trump administration is adding four more companies to its blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, including China’s largest chipmaker SMIC or Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, before President-elect Joe Biden takes office in late January.

According to the Department of Defense (DOD), these four companies are being added to the backlist because of their link to the Chinese military. This brings the total number of Chinese firms on the list to 35.

President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order that would prevent US investors from buying securities of the listed Chinese companies starting late next year.

The four new companies being added to the blacklist by Trump administration includes SMIC along with China Construction Technology, China International Engineering Consulting and China National Offshore Oil (CNOOC).

However, the Chinese firm SMIC has stated that it continued “to engage constructively and openly with the US government” and that it only catered to civilian and commercial users with no link to Chinese military and confirmed that it does not manufacture any sort of military end-users or end-uses.

SMIC has already been under scrutiny by the Trump administration since September, when US Commerce Department asked local firms to obtain license before dealing with the Chinese chipmaker over fear that the company could be making equipment for military use.

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