Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to put Chinese chip manufacturer ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) on an export-control blacklist and consider banning sales of its products in the United States.
In a Nov. 12 letter, Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sought measures beyond existing U.S. restrictions on CXMT, which the Pentagon has already designated a Chinese military company.
CXMT manufactures memory chips used in smartphones, computers, data centers, and artificial intelligence systems.
Cotton accused the company of participating in Beijing’s military-civil fusion strategy, which seeks to turn civilian technological advances into military capabilities.
“CXMT, one of Communist China’s national memory chip champions, poses a growing risk to our economic prosperity and military superiority,” Cotton wrote.
2 Proposed Measures
Cotton asked Commerce to add CXMT to its Entity List, which would require suppliers to obtain U.S. government licenses before providing the company with equipment, software, or technology covered by the designation.
He said the restrictions should apply to all CXMT chipmaking facilities, including American semiconductor manufacturing equipment and technical support.
Cotton also urged Commerce to use its Information and Communications Technology and Services authorities to explore prohibiting sales of CXMT products in the United States, particularly where American and allied alternatives are available.
In response to an inquiry from The Epoch Times, Hannah McCarthy, Cotton’s press secretary, directed attention specifically to that recommendation in the senator’s letter.
The two measures would work differently. An Entity List designation would restrict technology supplied to CXMT but would not automatically prohibit American companies from purchasing its finished chips. A sales prohibition would require separate Commerce action.
Existing US Restrictions
CXMT is already on the Pentagon’s list of Chinese military companies, a designation that carries restrictions on certain War Department contracts.
In its June 2026 list, the Pentagon cited CXMT’s direct affiliation with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and indirect affiliations with that ministry and the Chinese regime agency overseeing state-owned enterprises.
The designation does not itself impose the broader Commerce export controls or commercial sales prohibition that Cotton wants considered.
Cotton acknowledged that existing U.S. export controls already limit access to certain advanced semiconductor technologies at some CXMT facilities. His letter called for extending restrictions to all its chipmaking plants.
Separate federal procurement restrictions covering certain electronic products and services containing CXMT semiconductors are scheduled to take effect Dec. 23, 2027, subject to statutory exceptions.
CXMT has challenged its Pentagon designation in federal court, filing a lawsuit in Washington on Aug. 28 seeking to overturn the decision.
Earlier Congressional Pressure
Cotton’s request follows a bipartisan July appeal from Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and George Whitesides (D-Calif.), who also urged Commerce to review CXMT for Entity List designation and restrict purchases of Chinese memory chips for sensitive U.S. technology systems.
Seven senators separately pressed Apple in July to rule out memory chips from CXMT and another Chinese manufacturer, Yangtze Memory Technologies.
Lutnick had previously expressed opposition to American companies buying Chinese memory chips.
“The Trump administration is not in favor of that,” Lutnick told The Wall Street Journal in an August interview. Asked whether he had conveyed that position directly to Apple, he replied, “plainly.”
The Epoch Times contacted the Commerce Department and CXMT for comment. Neither had responded by publication time.
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