US Halts Blacklisting of Chinese AI and Chip Firms

Washington DC. The United States has temporarily halted the blacklisting of China's famous AI startup 'DeepSik' and memory chip maker 'CXMT', considered a risk to national security, and more than 100 other companies. 

According to two sources familiar with the matter, Reuters news agency reported that the Trump administration took this step to avoid further escalating trade and political tensions with Beijing. Although the inter-agency committee had approved adding these companies to the Commerce Ministry's 'Entity List' last year, the US has not yet made the list public. 

Companies included in this list cannot send any goods, software, or technologies to US companies without a special permit, and the possibility of obtaining such a permit is very low. Chinese startup DeepSik, which caused a stir in the tech world by releasing its cheap and powerful AI model in January 2025, has been accused by US officials of serious allegations. 

According to a senior official from the US State Department, DeepSik has directly supported China's military and intelligence operations. In addition, the startup had also attempted to gain access to advanced US chips illegally by setting up shell companies in Southeast Asian countries. 

This year, US AI company Anthropic claimed that DeepSik and two other Chinese AI labs had stolen capabilities and technologies from its 'Cloud AI' platform to improve their own models. Another major company, OpenAI, also warned US lawmakers that DeepSik was targeting its AI models. 

On the other hand, China's top memory chip maker Changxin Memory Technologies was classified as a Chinese military company by the Biden administration's Department of Defense. Reports had emerged that the Commerce Ministry was considering adding it to its Entity List more than a year ago. 

Although the Commerce Ministry's Bureau of Industry and Security refused to provide a clear answer on this matter, it issued a statement saying that it uses many policy and enforcement tools, including the Entity List, daily to combat bad actors. There has been a long-standing intense competition between the US and China over technology, trade, and national security. 

While Washington is resorting to tariffs and export controls to curb China, China maintains its monopoly on rare earth minerals required by defense, auto, and chip manufacturing firms. 

According to Philip Luck, a global supply chain researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the US has not added any new companies to its Entity List since last October. This is the longest period without a new list publication in its more than a decade-long history. He stated that not listing new companies increases the risk of US technology falling into the hands of anti-US elements and being used against the US itself.