The U.S. government will be adding Chinese artificial intelligence firm SenseTime to an investment blacklist on Friday, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The U.S. Treasury will place SenseTime on a list of “Chinese military-industrial complex companies.”

If added to the investment blacklist, investors from the U.S. will not be able to invest in SenseTime’s IPO.

SenseTime will reportedly delay its Hong Kong IPO because of the blacklisting, Bloomberg reported, quoting people with knowledge on the matter.

SenseTime is currently the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence unicorn startup, valued at over US$7.7 billion. The company specializes in AI technologies such as facial recognition, image recognition and object recognition. It has planned to launch its IPO in Hong Kong on December 17th.

The company aims to raise US$767 million through the IPO. The company was planning to sell 1.5 billion shares within a price range of HK$3.85 to HK$3.99 per share in the IPO. China International Capital Corp., Haitong International Securities Group Ltd. and HSBC Holdings Plc were the joint sponsors for the first-time share sale.

The fate of the public listing has now become uncertain as the U.S. blacklisting struck investors by surprise.

Investors will have to pull out from investing in SenseTime’s IPO if the blacklisting happens, Financial Times reported, quoting a trader.

SenseTime had not been aware of the blacklisting, Reuters reported, quoting two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, saying that the news also surprised bankers who are working on the IPO.

The U.S. government accused SenseTime of enabling human rights abuses, an allegation the company denies.

The U.S. Commerce Department added SenseTime to the Entity List in 2019, citing concerns over national security. The Entity List is the same blacklist that bars American businesses from trading with Huawei, putting the Chinese telecom giant into a component shortage crisis.