China proposes export controls on 40 technologies including AI models, solar chips and biotech drugs

Beijing has moved to restrict overseas transfers of 40 advanced technologies, including large language models, AI agents, computing clusters, cell and gene therapies, and solar manufacturing tech. China's ministries of commerce and science and technology published the draft on Friday, opening a public consultation that runs until 15 November, meaning the final scope could still change. The move came on the same day Beijing activated a new pre-export registration requirement covering technology licensing and ownership transfers to overseas entities already under way.

The 40 proposed restrictions cover 23 AI-related technologies — including the three building blocks of China's AI industry — plus biopharmaceuticals and polysilicon and solar cell production.

Beijing said major economies are already imposing controls as AI and biotech spread into sensitive fields, framing the proposal as routine national security management rather than a move against any specific country.

Open-source technologies already in the public domain are exempt, a carve-out that significantly limits the controls' reach for widely shared AI models.