China says new US export controls on advanced chip design software violate fair competition rules

China's Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that the United States' new export controls on advanced chip design software deviate from the principle of fair competition and violate international economic and trade rules.

The US Department of Commerce has imposed restrictions on four emerging technologies including a specific type of electronic computer-aided design software that is critical to producing next-generation artificial intelligence chips, despite the fact that the ministry's comments came after the US Department of Commerce issued a rule without the standard regulatory delay. The rule took effect on Monday.

It will hinder international scientific and technological exchanges, economic and trade cooperation, as well as threaten the security and stability of the global industrial and supply chains, according to Shu Jueting, the ministry's spokeswoman.

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She said countries need to work together to foster an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for scientific and technological development, promote global scientific and technological progress, and drive the steady growth of the world economy because of the slowing of global economic growth and high inflation.

Shu said the recently signed US Chips and Science Act of 2022, which offers incentives to US chipmakers, is a typical industrial support policy.

Some of these provisions restrict the normal economic, trade and investment activities of relevant companies in China. According to the ministry, they are obviously discriminatory and seriously violate market laws and international economic and trade rules.

They will disrupt international trade and disrupt the global semiconductor supply chain. She said that China strongly opposes this move.

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