Comment by U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

Throughout the Biden-Harris Administration, in coordination with U.S. allies and partners, BIS has taken novel approaches to address an ever-changing geopolitical and technological landscape and respond to increasingly sophisticated threat actors. All of the policy changes announced today are designed to limit the PRC’s ability to indigenize the production of advanced technologies – such as advanced-node integrated circuits and the equipment used to produce them – that pose a substantial risk to U.S. national security. The semiconductor manufacturing equipment controlled by today’s rules is needed to produce advanced-node integrated circuits, which are necessary for advanced weapon systems and advanced AI used in military applications. Advancements in large-scale AI models have shown striking performance improvements across many human abilities and may be used in advanced military and intelligence applications. These models have the ability to rapidly review and synthesize large amounts of information into actionable points. Advanced AI models could be used for rapid response scenarios on the battlefield; lowering the barrier to develop cyberweapons or chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons; and utilizing facial and voice recognition to repress and surveil minorities and political dissidents. Today’s announcement underscores the United States’ “small yard, high fence” strategy and will restrict the PRC’s ability to produce technologies key to its military modernization or repression of human rights. These actions serve two primary objectives: * Slowing the PRC’s development of advanced AI that has the potential to change the future of warfare; and * Impairing the PRC’s development of an indigenous semiconductor ecosystem – an ecosystem built at the expense of U.S. and allied national security.