The US Department of Defense has included 134 Chinese companies on the blacklist, such as chipmakers ChangXin Memory, Yangtze Memory, SMIC, as well as CATL and Tencent

On January 7th, news came that the US Department of Defense announced this Monday that it has added Chinese tech giants including Tencent Holdings and battery manufacturer CATL to its list of companies it claims are collaborating with the Chinese military. According to official documents, the list also includes chip manufacturers such as ChangXin Memory Technologies, Yangtze Memory Technologies, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), and Quectel Wireless Solutions Co., Ltd. According to the notice published in the Federal Register, the annually updated list of Chinese military companies (formally designated as the “Section 1260H List” under US law) designates 134 companies. Although this designation does not involve an immediate ban, it may damage the reputations of the affected companies and send a stern warning to US entities and companies, alerting them to the risks of doing business with them. It may also increase the pressure on the US Treasury Department to sanction such companies.

The US Department of Defense also removed six companies that allegedly no longer meet the designation requirements, including the artificial intelligence company Megvii Technology, China Railway Construction Corporation, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China Telecom Group, Shenzhen Kelsi Company, and China Marine Information-Electronics Co., Ltd.