US imposes restrictions on Chinese computer chip manufacturer

The United States has placed new sanctions on exports to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's maker of computer chips.

According to a report by South China Morning Post, the US Department of Commerce had imposed new restrictions on exports to SMIC, citing the "unacceptable risk" its products posed if they were used by the Chinese military.

China, which relies heavily on the US to import chips, has in the past two years spent more than about USD 300 billion annually on imported chips.

In recent months, President Donald Trump has taken several decisions against Chinese entities and orgsation over the concern on security.

On August 6, Trump signed an executive order banning any US transactions with ByteDance, set to take effect in 45 days.

Later on August 14, he issued another executive order, requiring ByteDance to divest its interests in TikTok's operations in the US within 90 days.

US Secretary of State Michel Pompeo has claimed TikTok and other applications like WeChat are feeding data directly to China's national security apparatus.

( With inputs from ANI )