A variation of American sanctions is the blacklisting of foreign companies based on their perceived proximity to the Chinese defense sector. This year, it was replenished by the Chinese companies Tencent, CXMT and CATL, and in total it includes 134 legal entities with Chinese registration.
Image source: Tencent
Tencent offers cloud services in China and controls the popular multifunctional messenger WeChat in China. According to Tencent representatives, the inclusion of the company in the “blacklist” in the United States is the result of an error. China’s largest manufacturer of RAM, CXMT, has been asking for inclusion in this list for a long time, since it did not lose hope of independently producing HBM2 type memory, which could be useful to Chinese developers of computing accelerators. Finally, CATL is the world’s largest supplier of traction batteries for electric vehicles, and even the American Ford Motor uses the technology of the Chinese giant at its American enterprises, so in light of the addition of CATL to this list of “accomplices of the Chinese military,” cooperation with the American automaker will certainly be threatened. CATL representatives also considered these actions of the US administration to be erroneous.
The appearance of the names of these Chinese companies on the relevant list does not entail direct immediate consequences, but in the future it may contribute to the imposition of sanctions by the US Department of Commerce or the Department of the Treasury. One way or another, Tencent’s share price fell by more than 7% against the backdrop of such news in Hong Kong, the most since October last year. CATL shares fell more than 5%, the most in the previous three months.
CATL supplies its traction batteries not only to Tesla, but also to the Stellantis concern, as well as the European giant Volkswagen. If the mechanism for expanding sanctions on CATL activities is launched, all of the listed automakers may suffer, albeit to varying degrees. More than a third of all traction batteries supplied to the world market are manufactured by CATL. It is worth adding that inclusion in the Pentagon’s “black list” for Chinese companies is not always irreversible. For example, in 2021, Xiaomi was removed from it, and last year the Chinese AMEC achieved such a right through the court. By the way, six Chinese companies related to various fields of activity were removed from the new edition of the list.