The US Treasury on Monday unveiled the framework limiting investments by American companies or individuals in cutting-edge Chinese technology companies, which will take effect in early January.
These are provisions initiated by a decree signed in August 2023 by President Joe Biden, in the name of “national security” of the United States.
The text specifically mentioned mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The sectors concerned are semiconductors, quantum computing (accelerated resolution of complex problems) and artificial intelligence, according to a press release.
The text published Monday aims to “prevent American investments from promoting the development of sensitive technologies and products in countries that give rise to concerns,” according to the American Treasury.
For Paul Rosen, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security, quoted in the press release, the United States intends to “deprive of these technologies those who could use them to threaten our national security”.
They are particularly necessary “for the next generations of military equipment, surveillance, intelligence, (…) and decryption”, detailed the manager.
The Treasury has indicated that it does not plan to publish lists of the Chinese companies concerned.
A violation of these provisions is punishable by a fine, but also by a report to the Ministry of Justice.
At the time of signing the decree, in August 2023, China denounced this initiative, affirming that it went against “the principles of the market economy, fair competition” and risked “(harming) to the commercial order”.
Along with strictly limiting U.S. investment in China, the U.S. government last year imposed a series of restrictions on the export of the most advanced semiconductors to China.
Here too, it is a question of preventing their use for military purposes.
