BIS Could Issue Restricted Fab Facility List Similar to MEU List, Former Official Says

Despite requests from industry, the Bureau of Industry and Security may push back on publishing a comprehensive list of advanced Chinese semiconductor fabrication facilities that are subject to the October chip controls, said Kevin Wolf, an Akin Gump lawyer and former BIS official. But the agency could meet industry halfway and publish a list similar to its military end-user list (see 2012220027), which could be a regularly updated, noncomprehensive set of facilities subject to the agency’s China chip controls.

Wolf, speaking Jan. 26 during a virtual conference hosted by the Massachusetts Export Center, said he expects “a lot of companies” to ask BIS to create a chip fab facilities list. That includes the Semiconductor Industry Association, which said in December it plans to tell BIS that a list of restricted Chinese fabs could help companies conduct due diligence and better comply with the October China chip controls (see 2212140038).

Many companies are familiar with the “big” fabs that are off limits but will tell BIS that a formal list could help inform them about smaller facilities, Wolf said, some of which may be conducting chip research and development restricted under the new controls. “I think the response from the government is going to be, ‘No, industry, you tell us,’” he said. “You go and ask these questions because we don't always have that great visibility.”

Wolf said he thinks BIS should publish at least some version of a facilities list. If it doesn’t want to issue a comprehensive set of sanctioned Chinese fabs, a list similar to the MEU one would be “an alternative or something in the middle,” he said.

Public comments on the new restrictions, which introduced a range of new export controls designed to restrict China’s ability to acquire advanced computing chips and manufacture advanced semiconductors, are due Jan. 31.