Chip stocks fall after Commerce Dept bars 5 more Chinese companies from buying US parts
- Five more Chinese companies are banned from purchasing U.S.-made components.
- The Commerce Department said the activities of these companies "pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States."
- Shares of U.S. chipmakers came under pressure after the announcement.
The U.S. Commerce Department has banned five more Chinese entities from buying U.S. components after blacklisting telecom giant Huawei last month.
Higon, Chengdu Haiguang Integrated Circuit, Chengdu Haiguang Microelectronics Technology, Sugon and Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology are the five Chinese firms added to the department's entity list, according to a filing.
The department said the activities of these companies "pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States."
Shares of U.S. semiconductors came under pressure after the announcement. Advanced Micro Devices tumbled more than 3%, while Xilinx and Nvidia also fell 2.2% and 1.5%, respectively.
The move came before President Donald Trump's key meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit this month to discuss the lingering trade differences. The U.S. and China have slapped tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other's goods, while ramping up tit-for-tat threats in the ongoing trade war.
The Commerce Department said Sugon and the Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology are the leaders in China's development of exascale high-performance computing.
Sugon has publicly acknowledged "a variety of military end uses and end users of its high-performance computers," the department said. Wuxi Jiangnan Institute of Computing Technology's mission is "to support China's military modernization," the department noted.
The U.S. restrictions on Huawei have forced many American chipmakers and tech companies including Google to cut ties with the Chinese giant. Huawei's U.S. chip suppliers, including Qualcomm and Intel, are reportedly quietly lobbying to ease the Huawei ban.