HONG KONG (AP) — The U.S. Defense Department has added dozens of Chinese companies, including games and technology company Tencent, artificial intelligence firm SenseTime and the world’s biggest battery maker CATL, to a list of companies it says have ties to China’s military, prompting some to protest and say they will seek to have the decision reversed.
In recent years, Washington has sought to restrict sharing of advanced technology, including semiconductors and AI, deeming it to be a threat to national security.
The U.S. Defense Department updates its list of “Chinese Military Companies,” or CMC list, annually. With the latest revision, it includes 134 companies. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 bans the Defense Department from dealing with the designated companies beginning in June 2026.
Tencent’s Hong Kong-traded shares fell 7.3% on Tuesday and the company said it would “initiate a reconsideration process to correct this mistake,” seek talks with the U.S. Defense Department and if need be take legal measures to get it removed from the list. Tencent is the world’s largest video gaming company and operates Chinese messaging platform WeChat.
“As the company is neither a Chinese military company nor a military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base, it believes that its inclusion in the CMC List is a mistake,” Tencent said in an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock…
