Chinese regulators led by the Ministry of Commerce (Mof Com) are debating tighter export controls on artificial‑intelligence and semiconductor technologies as the US‑China rivalry sharpens. The ministry has consulted domestic giants such as Alibaba, Byte Dance and Zhipu on limiting overseas data transfer for model training and on allowing model weights to be downloaded, while still permitting foreign customers to access services.

China’s AI lab Moonshot last week unveiled the Kimi K3 model, which outperformed Anthropic’s flagship Opus 4.8 on most benchmarks, signalling a narrowing gap with the United States. Chinese models are typically open‑weight, enabling local customization, whereas US models from Anthropic and OpenAI remain closed.

Mof Com is also seeking views on restricting overseas chipmakers such as Qualcomm and TSMC from producing advanced semiconductors built on designs by Chinese firms like Huawei, Alibaba and Byte Dance. Potential limits could target overseas acquisition of strategic technology groups, a loophole that led to the Meta‑Manus deal.

The proposed measures may be incorporated into the next revision of China’s export‑control catalogue, the most significant update in years. Companies warn that stricter rules could slow AI development and hinder China’s technology raceprocessing, with the 2025 revision already adding lithium‑ion battery tech to the restricted list.