BIS Puts SMIC on Entity List; China Urges US to Stop ‘Oppression’

The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security added more than 60 companies, including Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., China’s largest chipmaker, to the entity list “to protect U.S. national security,” said BIS Friday. This stems from China’s “military-civil fusion doctrine” and evidence of collaboration between SMIC and “entities of concern in the Chinese military industrial complex,” it said. SMIC denied the allegations, saying it supplies products and services only for “civilian end users” (see 2011120011). The company didn't comment Friday. The new restriction “limits SMIC's ability to acquire certain U.S. technology by requiring U.S. exporters to apply for a license to sell to the company,” said BIS. “Items uniquely required to produce semiconductors at advanced technology nodes -- 10 nanometers or below -- will be subject to a presumption of denial.” China urges the U.S. “to stop its wrong behavior of oppression of foreign companies,” said a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday in anticipation of the BIS action. “China will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies.”