US Blacklists Seven Chinese Supercomputing Entities For Supporting China’s Military Modernisation And WMD Programmes

United States (US)' Commerce Department had added seven Chinese supercomputing entities to its economic blacklist for assisting Chinese military efforts by building supercomputers used by it, reports Economic Times.

The seven Chinese entities include Tianjin Phytium Information Technology, Shanghai High-Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center, Sunway Microelectronics, the National Supercomputing Center Jinan, the National Supercomputing Center Shenzhen, the National Supercomputing Center Wuxi, and the National Supercomputing Center Zhengzhou.

“Supercomputing capabilities are vital for the development of many – perhaps almost all – modern weapons and national security systems, such as nuclear weapons and hypersonic weapons. The Department of Commerce will use the full extent of its authorities to prevent China from leveraging U.S. technologies to support these destabilizing military modernization efforts," said US Commerce Secretary Gina M Raimondo.

The addition of these companies into the US' economic blacklist has come into force with immediate effect, and the said companies will now have to apply for licenses from the Commerce Department, facing tough scrutiny when they seek permission to receive items from US suppliers. However, the new rules do not apply to goods from US suppliers which are already en route to China.

Before this, during former President Donald Trump's regime as well, the US had added dozens of Chinese companies to its economic blacklist, including Huawei Technologies, chipmaker SMIC and China's largest drone manufacturer SZ DJI Technology.