Taiwan joined a yearslong U.S. campaign to curtail China’s technological ascent when it blacklisted the country’s AI and chipmaking champions, an unprecedented step that may signal a resurgent effort to isolate its powerful neighbor’s semiconductor sector.
Taipei this month added Huawei Technologies and China's main chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), to its entity list, barring the island’s firms from doing business with the pair without a license. It was the first time Taiwanese officials have used that blacklist to sanction major Chinese firms, taking a cue from a longstanding U.S. approach of blocking access to advanced technologies.
The move also marks Taipei’s first public action on semiconductor restrictions since Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te pledged in April to address unspecified concerns from Washington about export controls. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has urged Taipei to take more ownership over chip restrictions on China, people familiar with the matter said, with a particular focus on the enforcement of existing curbs. They requested anonymity as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
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