The Chinese government has criticized the United States' imposition of new export controls on U.S.-made semiconductors that Washington fears Beijing will use to make next-generation weapons and artificial intelligence systems.
The new measures unveiled by the outgoing Biden administration have raised the temperature of the political struggle between the world's two largest economies ahead of the imminent inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made chip self-sufficiency a cornerstone of his economic strategy to make China a technology superpower.
The US Department of Commerce announced on Monday restrictions on the sale of 20 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and restrictions on several Chinese companies that prevent them from accessing American technology.
The goal of the new controls is to slow China's development of advanced artificial intelligence tools that could be used in warfare and China's semiconductor industry, Commerce Department officials said.
China's Commerce Ministry condemned the move, accusing the United States of "abusing" export controls and posing a "major threat" to the stability of global industrial and supply chains. "The United States advocates one thing while practicing another, excessively expanding the concept of national security, abusing export control measures, and engaging in unilateral attacks. Of course, China firmly opposes such measures," the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The next day, China categorically banned the sale to the United States of a number of materials crucial to the production of semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries. Gallium, germanium, antimony and other solid materials will not be allowed to be exported because they could also be used for military purposes, according to the ministry.
China had restricted sales of some of these materials last year, as the two sides escalated their technological rivalry, but left a narrow door open for companies to apply for special permits to export to the United States, a loophole that now appears to have been closed.
Unprecedented restrictions
Senior US officials accuse China of stealing American-made artificial intelligence software, a charge Beijing denies.
“The United States is using the strongest restrictions ever enacted to weaken the People’s Republic of China’s ability to make the most advanced chips it uses to modernize its military,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on Sunday.
The new rules include restrictions on the sale of high-bandwidth memory chips, which are critical for advanced applications such as training generative AI, as well as restrictions on new software and technology.
Monday's announcement is the third round of export restrictions imposed by the Biden administration on Beijing in two years.
For its part, China is intensifying its goal of dominating advanced technologies in the future, announcing in May plans to create the largest-ever government semiconductor investment fund worth $47.5 billion with investments from six of the country’s largest state-owned banks.