Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Michael McCaul said the
Entity List designation by the U.S. Commerce Department was not strict enough
and should be rewritten to close "dangerous loopholes that would allow
nearly all sales to SMIC to continue without restriction and support the
(Chinese Communist Party's) stated goal of military preeminence."
The letter said they were concerned that without changes the
rules would be "utterly ineffective in addressing this growing national
security threat."
The Commerce Department declined to comment, but Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday the designation was a "necessary measure
to ensure that China, through its national champion SMIC, is not able to
leverage U.S. technologies to enable indigenous advanced technology levels to
support its destabilizing military activities."
The lawmakers are concerned because the restrictions apply
only to technology "uniquely" required to produce semiconductors at
10 nanometers and below. The administration "seems to be allowing SMIC
access to nearly all semiconductor manufacturing equipment," they wrote.
The lawmakers said they were concerned the new rules were
"done for show and parochial commercial interests at the expense of U.S.
national security."
SMIC said Sunday that being put on a U.S. trade blacklist
would pose a significant adverse impact to its research and development in its
10-nanometer and more advanced chip technology, but said it did not expect the
U.S. decision to have a major negative impact on its short-term operations and
finances.