The United States strikes Chinese technology companies that are working with the military. Those that make up supercomputers are now in the limelight.

The Ministry of Commerce added seven companies and institutions dealing with such machines to its list of entities, and it prohibited American companies from providing them with equipment or cooperating in any other way.

“They are building supercomputers that contribute to modernizing the army, nuclear weapons and hypersonic technology,” US officials said.

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New US sanctions include companies such as Sunway and the Shanghai Center for High Performance Integrated Circuit Design and Information Technology, Tianjin Phytium, as well as supercomputing centers in Jinan, Shenzhen, Wuxi and Zhengzhou.

It is not yet certain how China will react to the US move. The country has always been investing to reduce its dependence on American technology through domestic production, but the US trade embargo makes this more difficult. Many of the factories producing the latest processes are located outside of mainland China, often relying in part on American technology, which leaves the country with few options as to how to invest in domestic production or use outdated manufacturing techniques.

Analysts contend that unlike similar bans imposed on companies like Huawei and DJI, in the current case, there are no fundamental allegations of espionage or human rights violations that would justify the move. It is only about controlling the technological development of the Chinese army. With this in mind, it should be noted that the supercomputer trade ban is an important policy tool.

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