Add YMTC to Entity List, China Tech Threat Tells BIS

The Bureau of Industry and Security should add China’s Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. to the Entity List, China Tech Threat, an organization that advocates for stronger export controls on China, said in an Oct. 4 letter to BIS. The letter points to a potential partnership between Apple and YMTC (see 2209220022), which would “put U.S. and other foreign manufacturers out of business” and will allow China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to move closer to “achieving its objective of forcing companies to turn to China as their prime source for advanced technologies.”

The letter also said YMTC “appears” to be helping Huawei avoid U.S. export controls and has reportedly supplied Hikvision, a Chinese technology company on the Entity List. BIS has reportedly looked into whether YMTC violated export controls (see 2204270056).

“We need export controls that keep American companies from giving YMTC the tools it can use to support human rights-abusing companies, dominate the global memory chip market, and threaten American national security,” the letter said. The company also shouldn’t be allowed to “seize market share from other chipmaking firms headquartered in Western countries, thereby threatening thousands of American jobs.”

A BIS spokesperson didn’t comment. Lawmakers in both major parties have urged the agency to add YMTC to the Entity List (see 2208020058 and 2207150023).