Overview

• Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs added 601 mainland companies—including Huawei and SMIC—to a restricted export list that mandates government licenses for any chip-related goods or services.
• Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, denounced the blacklist as a technological blockade and pledged forceful countermeasures to defend China’s economic and trade interests.
• Beijing could respond by limiting rare earth material exports, curtailing Taiwanese companies’ operations in mainland China, or restricting imports of non–high-tech goods from Taiwan.
• The new measures align Taiwan’s policy with U.S. export controls and exploit its critical role in the global semiconductor supply chain to heighten pressure on China’s chip industry.
• Washington is considering further tech restrictions, including revoking waivers that allow global chipmakers to access U.S. technology in their China-based facilities.