US Chip Export Controls on China
Which US export controls restrict advanced AI chips, chipmaking tools and model weights going to China, and when did each take effect? Every measure we could find, dated, labelled and linked to its source.
23verified export-control measures
On one timeline
One line per kind of step. Filled dots are counted; open dots are claimed, lifted or not yet in effect. Hover or tap a dot.
Every measure
Newest first. Each verified entry counts once; claimed entries are shown and labelled but not counted.
What counts
A measure counts when a US federal authority (the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, the White House, or Congress in an enacted law) issues, amends, delays or rescinds a binding export-control rule or licensing policy that restricts advanced AI chips, semiconductor manufacturing equipment or AI model weights going to China or to destinations covered because of China. Proposals, speeches, company announcements and enforcement cases against single firms are listed under related, not counted.
- 31 May 2026United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Stated that BIS is still enforcing the licence requirement for advanced AI chips going to companies headquartered in China or Macau, or with a parent there, wherever they are located, despite not enforcing the AI diffusion rule.VerifiedLicensing policyOfficial document →Archived copy
- 9 Apr 2026United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Pushed back the deadline in the foundry due-diligence rule for chip designers to apply for approved status from 13 April 2026 to 31 December 2026.VerifiedDelayApplies from 7 Apr 2026Official document →Archived copy
- 15 Jan 2026United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Changed the licence review policy for Nvidia H200-class chips and less advanced ones going to China and Macau from a presumption of denial to case-by-case review, if the exporter certifies US supply is not affected, buyers screen customers, China shipments stay under half of US shipments, and each shipment is tested by a US third-party lab.VerifiedLicensing policyOfficial document →Archived copy
- Dec 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)The validated end-user authorisation for TSMC's Nanjing fab expired in December 2025; Commerce replaced it with an annual export licence.VerifiedLicensing policyApplies from Dec 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 16 Sep 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Added 32 entities to the Entity List, including 23 in China, among them firms said to supply SMIC and support China's advanced computing and chip manufacturing.VerifiedRuleApplies from 12 Sep 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 2 Sep 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Removed validated end-user status from the China fabs of Samsung, SK hynix and Intel's former Dalian plant, so US chipmaking tools and parts sent to them need individual licences from 31 December 2025.VerifiedRuleApplies from 31 Dec 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 14 Jul 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Nvidia said the US government had assured it that H20 export licences would be granted; its filings show licences granted in August 2025, with nothing yet shipped under them.VerifiedLicensing policyApplies from 8 Aug 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 13 May 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Announced the rescission of the January 2025 AI diffusion framework and told enforcement staff not to enforce it, two days before compliance was due, promising a replacement rule.VerifiedRescindedOfficial document →Archived copy
- 15 Apr 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)The US government told Nvidia that exporting its H20 chips to China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and other D:5 countries, or to firms headquartered there, now needs a licence.VerifiedLicensing policyApplies from 9 Apr 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 28 Mar 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Added 12 entities to the Entity List, including the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence and Inspur subsidiaries, citing AI model and advanced computing chip work for military purposes.VerifiedRuleApplies from 25 Mar 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 14 Feb 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Corrected the licence requirement for advanced computing chips (ECCN 3A090) that the January 2025 foundry rule had added.VerifiedAmendmentApplies from 11 Feb 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 16 Jan 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Required chip foundries and packaging firms to get a licence to ship certain advanced logic chips to any destination unless the chip comes from an approved or authorised designer or an approved packager, to stop advanced chips reaching China through third parties.VerifiedRuleOfficial document →Archived copy
- 16 Jan 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Added 16 entities in China and Singapore to the Entity List, including Sophgo and its affiliates, for their role in developing advanced computing chips.VerifiedRuleOfficial document →Archived copy
- 15 Jan 2025United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Set a worldwide, country-tiered licensing framework for advanced AI chips and added a new control on the model weights of the most advanced closed-weight AI models, while keeping China and other arms-embargoed destinations under the strictest treatment.VerifiedRuleApplies from 13 Jan 2025Official document →Archived copy
- 5 Dec 2024United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Added controls on high-bandwidth memory and on more chipmaking equipment and software, created new foreign direct product rules reaching foreign-made equipment, and clarified controls on software keys.VerifiedRuleApplies from 2 Dec 2024Official document →Archived copy
- 5 Dec 2024United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Added 140 entities, mostly Chinese chip toolmakers, fabs and investors, to the Entity List alongside the December 2024 equipment and HBM rule, and removed some from the validated end-user programme.VerifiedRuleApplies from 2 Dec 2024Official document →Archived copy
- 4 Apr 2024United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Corrected and clarified the October 2023 advanced computing and chipmaking equipment rules.VerifiedAmendmentOfficial document →Archived copy
- 25 Oct 2023United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Tightened and widened controls on semiconductor manufacturing equipment for China and other arms-embargoed destinations, replacing the equipment part of the October 2022 rule.VerifiedAmendmentApplies from 17 Nov 2023Official document →Archived copy
- 25 Oct 2023United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Revised the chip controls so they turn on total processing performance and performance density rather than interconnect speed, catching chips such as the A800 and H800, and extended licence requirements to Country Groups D:1, D:4 and D:5 and to entities headquartered in China or Macau wherever they are located.VerifiedAmendmentApplies from 17 Nov 2023Official document →Archived copy
- 19 Oct 2023United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Added 13 Chinese entities to the Entity List, including GPU designers Biren and Moore Threads and their affiliates, as part of the October 2023 chip package.VerifiedRuleApplies from 17 Oct 2023Official document →Archived copy
- 18 Jan 2023United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Extended the October 2022 advanced computing and chipmaking equipment controls on China to Macau.VerifiedAmendmentApplies from 17 Jan 2023Official document →Archived copy
- 19 Dec 2022United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Added 36 entities to the Entity List, including AI chip designer Cambricon and its affiliates and memory maker Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC), cutting them off from US-controlled items.VerifiedRuleApplies from 16 Dec 2022Official document →Archived copy
- 13 Oct 2022United StatesBureau of Industry and Security (Commerce Department)Created licence requirements for advanced computing chips and computers containing them going to China, and for equipment used to make advanced logic and memory chips there. It also required a licence for US persons supporting advanced chip fabs in China and widened foreign-produced item rules for 28 listed Chinese entities.VerifiedRuleApplies from 7 Oct 2022Official document →Archived copy
How this thread is kept
Every entry links to the official document itself: the order, law, filing or statement, with an archived copy where one exists. Steps known only from news reports are left out, so our count can be lower than press tallies. New entries are added when we find their official text. How the Record works · Report an error or a missing measure