Beijing would prohibit exports of 14 advanced technologies and require registration or licences for others, while exempting AI services, open-source releases and published research.
China has moved to tighten oversight of technology transfers in artificial intelligence, biomedicine and solar manufacturing by proposing export controls on 40 advanced items and, in the meantime, requiring companies to register certain deals before they proceed. The measure, published on 16 October by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology, marks a sharper attempt to police what Beijing regards as sensitive know-how while still leaving room for some overseas commercial activity.
According to the notice reported by Xinhua and picked up by other outlets, 23 of the items concern AI, with the remainder split between solar technology and biomedical processes. The draft would place 14 technologies under outright prohibition and subject 26 to licensing. It also introduces an interim registration regime that applies immediately, before the revised catalogue is finalised after a public consultation period that runs until 15 November.
The government has drawn a distinction between exporting a technology itself and providing access to a model or service. In guidance accompanying the draft, the ministry said that supplying AI through an application programming interface, a website, software as a service, or lightweight on-device deployment would not amount to a technology export. Open-source releases and published research papers are also excluded, a carve-out that matters for Chinese open-weight models and other systems that have been shared publicly.
What is captured instead is the transfer of the underlying technology. The draft says exporters must register before transferring ownership abroad, licensing a technology for use overseas, or allowing a foreign party to take ownership or control of a domestic owner. AP reported that the AI provisions could affect large models, AI agents and systems deployed in sensitive settings, while the South China Morning Post said the notice covers advanced models, agents and computing clusters as well as technologies already in the public domain exemption. The ministry has also indicated that some overseas deployments by Chinese firms may qualify for an expedited licence route rather than a full ban.
The wider package also reaches beyond AI. The proposal covers solar technologies linked to polysilicon, wafers and cell manufacturing, and biomedical items associated with cell and gene therapy platforms, small nucleic acid drugs and pathogens. Analysts quoted by AP said the move fits a broader pattern of strategic technology control as Washington and Beijing continue to argue over semiconductor access, AI governance and the management of dual-use capabilities. Beijing says the revision is a routine update to a catalogue that has existed in some form since 2001 and insists it is not aimed at any specific country or company.
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