U.S. Imposes Restrictions on Exports to China’s Top Chipmaker

The U.S. imposed export restrictions on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., taking aim at another prominent Chinese technology company and adding to tensions between the two countries over the critical industry.

U.S. firms must now apply for a license to export certain products to China’s largest chipmaker, the Commerce Dept. said in letter dated Sept. 25, reviewed by Bloomberg News. SMIC and its subsidiaries present “an unacceptable risk of diversion to a military end use,” the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security wrote.

SMIC has not been put on the so-called U.S. entity list, which means the restrictions are not ...