Asian Tech Press (Nov 15) -- Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. (YMTC) and other Chinese chipmakers could be placed on the U.S. trade blacklist as soon as early December, according to a U.S. Commerce Department official.

Dozens of Chinese entities, including memory chip maker YMTC, may be added to the U.S. trade blacklist as soon as December 6, according to prepared remarks by Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce, sources said.

The news circulated just as U.S. President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping face-to-face on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia on Monday.

Last month, the Commerce Department placed 31 entities, including YMTC, on the "unverified list" and announced a new policy that allows the U.S. to initiate a process to re-list the firms on the "entity list" after 60 days if outside interference prevents U.S. officials from conducting end-use checks of their products.

The new rule applies to YMTC and 30 other Chinese companies, as well as 50 other entities that have previously been placed on the "unverified list," which the U.S. could add to the "entity list" as soon as Dec. 6, Axelrod said in his remarks.