- US has not added China’s AI firm DeepSeek, CXMT to a trade blacklist to avoid worsening tensions with Beijing
- An interagency committee authorized including these firms on the Commerce Department's Entity List last year
- DeepSeek is accused of supporting China’s military, trying to illegally obtain US chips via shell companies
The US has refrained from adding China's AI firm DeepSeek, memory chipmaker CXMT, and more than 100 other businesses identified as national security threats to a trade blacklist in an effort to prevent worsening tensions with Beijing, according to reports.
An interagency committee last year authorised DeepSeek, CXMT, and other businesses to be included in the Commerce Department's Entity List, which is being reported for the first time, Reuters reported.
A senior US State Department official told Reuters last year that DeepSeek, whose low-cost AI model rocked the tech world in January 2025, has supported China's military and intelligence operations. The official also claimed that the startup attempted to use Southeast Asian shell companies to obtain advanced US chips illegally.
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This year, OpenAI alerted lawmakers that DeepSeek was also targeting its models, while Anthropic claimed to have discovered a campaign by DeepSeek and two other Chinese AI labs to steal capabilities from its Claude AI platform to enhance their own models.
During the Biden administration, the Defence Department classified China's leading memory chip manufacturer, ChangXin Memory Technologies, as a Chinese military enterprise. According to Reuters, the Commerce Department thought about adding it to its Entity List over a year ago.
Without a license, which is likely to be refused, U.S. businesses are unable to ship products, software, and technology to businesses on the list.
Outside of regular business hours, DeepSeek and CXMT could not be contacted for comment. The Bureau of Industry and Security of the Commerce Department, which is in charge of the list, did not explicitly address inquiries concerning DeepSeek and CXMT or why changes to the Entity List had not been released since last year.
According to a statement from BIS, the bureau employs "many policy and enforcement tools, including the Entity List ... daily to ensure we are combating bad actors."
China's foreign ministry stated that the United States should stop "politicising, instrumentalising, and weaponising" economic, trade, and technology concerns in response to a request for comment.
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During a routine news briefing on Wednesday, spokesperson Lin Jian stated, "China has consistently opposed the U.S.'s broad interpretation of the concept of national security and its abuse of export control measures, such as the Entity List, to contain and suppress Chinese enterprises."
China and the United States are embroiled in a fierce battle over technology, commerce, and national security. China maintains a tight grip on rare earth minerals that are essential to the defence, automotive, and chip industries, while Washington uses tariffs and export restrictions to keep Beijing at a distance.
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