BEIJING, December 15 (TMTPOST)— Chinese tech firms seems to face further restrictions from the Biden administration amid the escalating sanctions.

The U.S. Department of Treasury is set to add eight Chinese companies to its investment blacklist that prohibits the purchase or holding of any securities from the targeted firms, and the Commerce Department would place more than two dozen Chinese firms, including some of biotechnology firms, to its entity list, which aims to ban U.S. companies from exporting, the Financial Times cited people with knowledge of the matter on Wednesday. It is reported that the reason for Treasury’s blacklisting Shenzhen-based DJI Technology Co., Ltd., the largest consumer drone maker in the world, Megvii Technology Ltd, one of China’s “Four AI dragons”, and other six companies is their alleged involvement in the surveillance of China’s Uyghur minority.

Source: Visual China

Bloomberg quoted sources the same day that the United States was considering tightening sanctions against Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), China’s largest and most important chipmaker that has already been added to the Commerce Department’s entity list last December. The Pentagon has proposed to close regulatory loopholes that have allowed SMIC to import technologies for chips even already under sanctions, and the U.S. officials also would consider in the coming months adding more Chinese tech firms to the entity list and to The Treasury’s investment blacklist, the Wall Street Journal’s sources revealed last week.

The news of more sanctions came after SenseTime, China’s largest AI company, announced on Monday to delay its Hong Kong offering which previously target raising up to US$767 million and determined to list on December 17. The startup was said to be placed in the U.S. investment blacklist last week.

China always opposes US moves to overstretch the concept of national security and exert unwarranted suppression on Chinese companies, Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry underlined on Wednesday later. Commenting on the report of SMIC, Zhao said such attempts of U.S. are “typical political manipulation that harm everyone” and will only threaten and hurt the security of global industrial and supply chains and undermine international trade rules. China will, as always, firmly defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, Zhao pledged.