Senators aim to ban USG deals with Chinese chipmakers

Two senators are lobbying hard for a ban on US government business with Chinese chipmakers, further pressuring Chinese Communist Party-tied industries and decoupling the economies of the two world powers.

According to three people familiar with the plan, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. John Coryn want their colleagues to get their amendment that blocks federal access to semiconductor products and services made by Chinese firms to get into the final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, Politico reported on November 17.

Schumer and Cornyn got their proposal added to the Senate NDAA last month in the October managers package. Now they’re looking to finish the job.

Section 889, which first passed in the 2019 NDAA, mainly targets Chinese conglomerates like Huawei or ZTE. But the Schumer-Cornyn measure would grow the targeted list to include the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., Yangtze Memory Technologies Corp. and ChangXin Memory Technologies.

The Senate and House are currently wrangling over the final version of the must-pass defense bill. Which amendments get in can launch a bruising fight between lawmakers who all want their priorities featured in the behemoth legislation. It’s unclear if Schumer and Cornyn will succeed in their effort, but there’s bipartisan support for curbing any federal government business with Chinese firms. It also helps that Schumer is the chamber’s top official.

The senators will now work with their colleagues to convince them that their amendment should make the final cut. The three people who detailed their campaign spoke to NatSec Daily on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal debate.