China has banned the export of several materials essential for making computer chips to the US, saying it is concerned these materials could be used for military purposes. This move is a response to the US government tightening technology restrictions on China.

As an overall rule, exports of gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States are prohibited, the Ministry of Commerce announced in a statement on Tuesday. It further stated that Beijing will enforce a more stringent end-use review for graphite-related dual-use products.  

“The US has generalised the concept of national security, and politicized and weaponized economic, trade and tech issues,” a ministry spokesperson said in a separate statement. “It has abused export control measures and unreasonably restricted certain products’ export to China.” The announcement follows new restrictions by the Biden administration on the sale of high-bandwidth memory chips, both from US and foreign companies, to China. 

This is part of an ongoing effort to limit Beijing’s technological growth. As tensions erupted between the biggest economies in the world last year, President Xi Jinping's administration tightened government regulation of gallium and germanium. However, shipments of gallium were subject to licensing restrictions rather than being completely prohibited. The Gallium chips are commonly used in defence and aerospace equipment.