The Biden administration is weighing sanctions on several Chinese tech companies, including memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies, according to people familiar with the matter, in a fresh bid to restrain the Asian country’s development of advanced semiconductors.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security is considering adding ChangXin to its so-called Entity List, which restricts companies’ access to U.S. technology, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the conversations are private. BIS is also considering restricting five other Chinese firms, the people said, while emphasizing that the list isn’t final.
ChangXin, or CXMT, makes chips used in a wide range of products, including computer servers and smart vehicles. It competes with U.S.-based Micron Technology and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Micron funded an advocacy group that has long pushed for CXMT to be restricted.