Taiwan Adds Huawei and SMIC to Export Control List Amid Rising Tech Tensions
Taiwan: Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs has added Chinese tech giants Huawei Technologies and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) to its export control list, signalling escalating trade and technology frictions between Taiwan, China, and the United States.
The decision, announced Sunday, places the two firms on Taiwan’s “strategic high-tech commodities” list, requiring Taiwanese exporters to obtain special licences before supplying goods to them. Other entities on the list include groups such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies from China, Iran, and other countries subject to international scrutiny.
Neither Huawei nor SMIC has publicly responded to the development.
Both companies are already subject to U.S. sanctions, and have been at the forefront of China’s push to develop advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips domestically. Their efforts are widely seen as part of a broader strategy to reduce reliance on U.S. technologies and counter export restrictions that have limited access to high-end semiconductors.
The move comes as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to U.S. firms like Nvidia, continues to play a central role in the global semiconductor supply chain.
The updated export control list highlights Taiwan’s increasingly delicate position at the centre of geopolitical and technological competition between the world’s two largest economies.
By RSS/APNews
