Asia Tech Wire (Apr 11) -- The U.S. has blacklisted six Chinese tech firms, including four allegedly sourcing AI chips for the Chinese military.

Citing national security and foreign policy concerns, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) on Wednesday decided to add 11 entities from Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to its entity list.

Of the 11 entities, three are from Russia, six are from China, and two are from the UAE.

U.S. suppliers need a license to ship goods and technology to companies on the entity list, but most applications are denied.

Kevin Kurland, an export enforcement officer at the DOC, said at Wednesday's hearing, "We added four companies to our entity list in China that were explicitly diverting AI chips to the Chinese military weapons program."

The four Chinese companies, according to a statement, are LINKZOL (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing Anwise Technology Co., Ltd., SITONHOLY (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. and Xi'an Like Innovative Information Technology Co., Ltd.

In addition, the DOC also accused five companies of assisting in the production and procurement of drones for use by Russia in the war in Ukraine and by Yemen's Houthis in attacks on Red Sea ships.

Among the five companies are two Chinese firms, namely Jiangxi Xintuo Enterprise Co. Ltd. and Shenzhen Jiasibo Technology Co., Ltd.

In late February, the DOC also added 93 entities from a variety of countries, including Russia, China, and Turkey, to the list, including eight from China.