Drone maker DJI and chip maker SMIC are the latest Chinese companies to be blacklisted in the US.
A total of 77 companies were added to the list – most of them Chinese.
The Entity List was compiled by the US Department of Commerce and now includes more than 275 companies based in China, including telecom giant Huawei.
The move is seen by outgoing US President Donald Trump, who is firmly committed to China, as a final, provocative blow.
The US government says it controls SMIC exports to limit access to US technology because it is suspected of being linked to the Chinese military.
“We added SMIC to the list of companies, in large part because we needed to ensure that US intellectual property and manufacturing capabilities were not used by SMIC’s customers to better support military-civilian merger efforts in China,” said a senior official from the US Commerce Department.
The official added that the United States has evidence that SMIC has worked with the Chinese military on short and medium-range ballistic missiles and exteriors for soldiers.
SMIC was founded in 2000 and has been the most well-known chip maker in mainland China ever since.
US companies are now required to apply for special permits with the Commerce Department before they can export goods to the company, which affects the company’s ability to acquire materials to make high-end chips.
The US government also added DJI, one of the largest drone manufacturers, to its list of companies, saying the company had played a role in human rights abuses in China.
The ban hasn’t stopped people from buying DJI drones, but it does mean the company will have restrictions on transferring technology out of the US.
So far, no company has commented on the US decision.
The Chinese government has responded with its own laws restricting exports of military technology.
Trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies have existed for several years but have escalated in recent months.
Consumer app TikTok and digital company Tencent – both Chinese – also face bans in the US.
