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US-China relations
ChinaScience

China’s quantum tech ‘core strength’ targeted by latest US trade blacklist, Chinese physicists warn

  • Updated US ‘Entities List’ names 22 of China’s leading players in quantum research and industry among 37 of its firms and institutes targeted
  • Move could have major repercussions for quantum research in China, from access to advanced equipment to academic exchanges, physicists tell the Post

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China’s hi-tech sector including quantum information technology, especially related to its defence capabilities, has long been a target of US sanctions. Photo: Shutterstock
Dannie Peng

The latest US trade restrictions on China are “unprecedented” and will have a “far-reaching impact” on Chinese quantum research, physicists in the country have warned.

This comes after the US Commerce Department’s updated export control list released on Thursday named 22 of China’s leading players in quantum research and industrialisation among the 37 Chinese “entities” targeted.

The additions to the blacklist, officially known as the “Entity List”, are designed to prevent US companies from selling materials and equipment to the targeted entities.

This is the second time quantum-related research institutes and companies have been added to the trade blacklist, but the scope is much broader, according to Chinese scientists.

“Almost all of China’s core strength in quantum information research has been listed,” said Yin Zhangqi, a physicist at the Beijing Institute of Technology, who described the impact as “huge”.

Among the new entrants, “22 institutes and firms were added … for acquiring or attempting to acquire US-origin items to enhance [China’s] quantum capabilities”, the US department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a statement on the update.

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