Biden admin issues restrictions on US investments into sensitive tech tied to China

The White House and Treasury Department released a final rule Monday evening that blocks various U.S. investments into sensitive technologies that could undermine national security, particularly in relation to China’s military and intelligence capabilities.

The move targeting outbound investments, which has been in development for some time, is designed to prevent China from augmenting key technologies that directly support its military modernization and related activities.

The rule takes effect Jan. 2 of next year, focusing on semiconductor, quantum and artificial intelligence investments. While U.S. trade policies restrict the export of physical goods to adversaries involved in those tech verticals, federal laws have not fully accounted for cash flows that directly finance these sectors.

Barred chip transactions include those involving advanced semiconductor tools and technologies like electronic design software, fabrication tools, advanced integrated circuits, packaging techniques and supercomputers. In quantum, transactions related to developing quantum computers, critical quantum ...