Washington, March 26, 2025: The United States has expanded its export blacklist, adding six subsidiaries of China’s leading cloud computing and big data firm, Inspur Group, along with dozens of other Chinese entities. Among the newly listed companies, some are also based in Pakistan, Taiwan, Iran, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
The US Commerce Department stated that the Inspur units were blacklisted for contributing to the development of supercomputers for China’s military. Of the six subsidiaries, five are based in China, while one operates from Taiwan. Inspur Group itself had already been placed on the list in 2023.
In total, about 80 companies and institutions were added to the Entity List on Tuesday. More than 50 of these are Chinese, while others operate in multiple countries, including Pakistan. The move is part of Washington’s broader effort to curb China’s advancements in high-performance computing, quantum technologies, and artificial intelligence, particularly in areas that could bolster Beijing’s hypersonic weapons program.
“We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” said US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The Chinese embassy in Washington condemned the decision, accusing the US of weaponizing trade and technology issues under the pretext of national security concerns.
“We firmly oppose these acts and demand that the US immediately stop using military-related issues as pretexts to politicize, instrumentalize, and weaponize trade and tech issues,” the embassy said in a statement.
Companies placed on the Entity List face severe trade restrictions, as they are prohibited from acquiring US-origin goods without a special license—applications for which are typically denied.
Jeffrey Kessler, a senior Commerce Department official, emphasized that the latest sanctions aim to prevent US technology from being misused for applications such as high-performance computing, hypersonic missile development, military aircraft training, and drone production.
Among the newly blacklisted Chinese firms are Nettrix Information Industry Co., Suma Technology Co., and Suma-USI Electronics. The US accuses these companies of supporting China’s exascale supercomputing development—capable of processing massive amounts of data at unprecedented speeds for military simulations.
Additionally, these firms have allegedly provided manufacturing support to Sugon (Dawning Information Industry Co.), a computer server manufacturer previously blacklisted in 2019 for its role in Chinese military supercomputer projects.
Broader Impact on US-China Tech War
The blacklist also includes companies accused of acquiring US-origin products to advance China’s quantum technology research and of selling components to sanctioned firms such as Huawei, which is at the forefront of China’s artificial intelligence ambitions.
Major US chipmakers Nvidia and AMD were approached for comment on the restrictions but have yet to respond. Meanwhile, Inspur Group has also remained silent on the development.
This latest move by Washington marks another escalation in the ongoing tech and trade war between the US and China, with ripple effects likely to be felt by firms operating in multiple countries, including Pakistan.Top of Form
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