US senators push to ban government deals with Chinese chipmakers

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Senator John Cornyn are lobbying hard for a ban on government business with Chinese chipmakers, Politico reported on Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The senators want to get their amendment which blocks federal access to semiconductor products and services made by Chinese firms into the final version of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the report said.

The measure would broaden provisions in Section 889 that already prohibit government agencies from doing business with Chinese telecommunications companies or contractors who use their technologies, according to Politico.

Schumer and Cornyn got their proposal added to the Senate NDAA last month in the October managers package and are now working to convince their colleagues, the report added.

The fiscal 2023 NDAA must pass the Senate and House of Representatives later this year before it can be sent to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law.

Last month, the Biden administration published a sweeping set of export controls, including a measure to cut off China from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with U.S. tools. Reuters