China moves to curb tech exports, including AI, citing national security risks

HONG KONG — China on Friday said it plans to restrict or ban exports of 40 technologies that span artificial intelligence, chips and solar power as its technology race with countries including the United States intensifies.

The Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology jointly published a draft document with the proposed updates for China's catalog of technologies subjected to export bans or restrictions.

A spokesperson from the commerce ministry said in a statement that the move was "necessary" and cited national security as one of the reasons.

The proposal came as China and the U.S. made progress in dialogues over AI safety and governance and on the setting up of a notification mechanism between the two superpowers for AI incidents that could threaten national security.

Twenty-three AI technologies, from advanced large models to agents, are included on Friday's list, according to the Chinese ministries.

U.S.-led restrictions have curbed the export of some advanced technologies to China over the past years, with the country blocked from accessing the world's most cutting-edge AI chips and the advanced chipmaking machines that make them.

Exports of core technologies of AI large models trained using sensitive national data would be prohibited under the Chinese proposal, along with AI agents that are designed to be used in highly sensitive environments such as national defense and critical information infrastructure.

"The Chinese government is implementing such necessary measures with the aims of reinforcing the security bottom line, preventing misuse and abuse, and ensuring that AI remains under human control," the commerce ministry's statement said.

Meanwhile, exports of AI models with parameter counts of 2 trillion or above, or with certain world-leading capabilities, could be restricted. An AI model's parameter count is a key metric that reflects its learning capacity.

Chinese AI models including Moonshot's Kimi K3 and Alibaba's Qwen 3.8-Max are among those with parameter counts exceeding 2 trillion, but Friday's proposal did not name specific models.

Several chip design technologies, including for some AI processing chips and memory chips, are also included in the proposed export restrictions.

Twelve solar power-related technologies are also included, including those related to the making of polysilicon, a core raw material for the solar supply chain, as well as five biomedicine technologies including those related to cell and gene therapy.

The move "can be seen as a response to Western countries posting sovereignty requirements on AI, robotics, telecommunications, and other key technologies," said Lian Jye Su, a chief analyst at technology research and advisory group Omdia. The aim would be to better regulate access to the Chinese technologies, he believes.

The Commerce Department in June had asked Anthropic to bar foreign nationals from using some of its most powerful AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, citing national security concerns. The restrictions were later lifted.

AI is increasingly strategic for both China and the U.S., added Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank Natixis. "The world is getting more fragmented in trade and investment, but also in access to technologies," Ng said.

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