[WASHINGTON] The US put five more Chinese tech entities on a trade blacklist just days ahead of a high-stakes summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping even as it offered a quiet olive branch by postponing a potentially provocative speech.
The Commerce Department action against the super-computing entities will only add to those concerns in Beijing. But it also comes as the two sides try to avoid an escalation in their trade war that many see as the greatest risk to an already-slowing global economy.Trump earlier this week announced he and Mr Xi would meet on the sidelines of the June 28-29 Group of 20 summit in Japan in an effort to restart trade talks that broke down last month.
Among those added to the blacklist were AMD's Chinese joint-venture partner Higon, Commerce said in the statement. Also included were Sugon, which Commerce identified as Higon's majority owner, along with Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit and Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology, both of which the department said Higon had an ownership interest in.
Lisa Su, AMD's chief executive officer, said at a recent conference in Taiwan that AMD would not license its newer technologies to Chinese companies."We are currently evaluating the addition of five new entities," AMD spokesman Drew Prairie wrote in an email on Friday."AMD will comply with the regulations governing that list, just as we have complied with US laws to date.
The US said on Friday that Sugon is"involved in activities determined to be contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States."