U.S. blacklists seven Chinese Super-computing Entities

United States Commerce Department has added seven Chinese super-computing entities to an economic blacklist citing national security concerns.

The seven entities were banned for building supercomputers used by China’s military actors, and weapons of mass destruction programs.

U.S. officials have long complained that Chinese companies are obligated to China and collect sensitive information on behalf of the People’s Liberation Army.

The companies include the National Supercomputing Center Shenzhen, Tianjin Phytium Information Technology, Sunway Microelectronics, the National Supercomputing Center Jinan, Shanghai High-Performance Integrated Circuit Design Center, the National Supercomputing Center Wuxi and the National Supercomputing Center Zhengzhou.

The new rules, which restrict U.S. exports to the entities in question, take effect immediately although they do not apply to goods from U.S. suppliers that are already en route.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo wrote in a statement that supercomputing capabilities are vital for the development of modern weapons and national security systems, such as nuclear weapons and hypersonic weapons.

She said the Department of Commerce will use its power to prevent China from leveraging U.S. technologies to support these destabilizing military modernization efforts.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment although the Chinese Communist Party has previously said that it does not engage in industrial espionage.