U.S. lawmakers call for additional export controls on Chinese chip makers

Some members of Congress have asked that a Chinese chipmaker with ties to the military be added to the Commerce Department’s list of entities to control exports to the company.

Michael McCaul, the ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Bill Hagerty, a Republican, sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Raimondo on December 12 urging her to consider adding the Chinese state-run chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies Company to the Commerce Department’s export list. “(Yangtze Memory Technologies Company) to the Commerce Department’s list of export-controlled entities on the grounds that the company is a chip manufacturing champion with ties to the Chinese Communist Party military.

The letter notes that Yangtze Memory Technologies is the national champion of China’s state-run chip manufacturing, which is used in defense, artificial intelligence and aerospace applications. The company’s executives previously worked for Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), a Communist Party military company, and for the Chinese military, which provides command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4) systems to the Chinese government. The letter said, “‘The letter also states that the company’s management worked for the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which provides command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) related technology to the Chinese military.

The letter said, “Changjiang Storage Technology is connected to the CCP military through its complex corporate network, and Tsinghua Holdings, the parent company of Changjiang Storage Technology, has a vast network of subsidiaries and subsidiaries that supply the CCP military. network of subsidiaries and affiliates that supply to the CCP military.”

“The CCP is implementing an unprecedented industrial plan to exercise vertical control over every link in the semiconductor supply chain,” the letter said, adding that “Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CCP, has said that China ‘must tighten the dependence of the international industrial chain on our country. ‘ underscoring the urgency of ensuring that chip supply never becomes an issue for the CCP to exert influence over the United States.”

The letter said, “These specific facts show that ‘Changjiang Storage Technology’ has ties to the CCP military, ties to this party-state system, and ties to a national semiconductor program designed to deplete the U.S. defense industrial base. Based on these facts, the national security community needs your leadership on this urgent matter to prevent ‘Yangtze Storage Technology’ from acquiring the technology it needs to continue to engage in activities that are contrary to our national security. By adding ‘CK Storage Technologies’ to your list of entities, you will protect our national security.”