China's Ministry of Commerce, jointly with the Ministry of Science and Technology, announced on Friday (October 16, 2026) the opening of public consultation to revise the catalog of technologies prohibited or restricted from export. The proposal adds 40 technologies in artificial intelligence, biomedicine and solar energy, of which 23 are related to AI.
What the proposal covers
Among the listed AI technologies are large-scale language models, intelligent agents, computing clusters and information processing technologies. Reports indicate that model weights and source code of products above certain performance thresholds also fall under restriction.
The consultation remains open until November 15, 2026. In parallel, a pre-export registration requirement is already in force for the involved technologies.
What is excluded
According to the Ministry of Commerce, technologies already in the public domain through open-source releases or academic publications do not fall under the controls. Offering access to a model via API, app, web page or reduced on-device version also does not constitute technology export, according to analyses of the proposal.
The measure is presented as routine, aimed at preventing misuse in sensitive areas such as defense and critical infrastructure, and does not target specific countries or companies.
Why it matters
Chinese companies and labs are currently one of the main sources of frontier open-weight models used globally. Controls on weights and code of models above certain thresholds (such as 2 trillion parameters, according to some reports) could affect the availability of future versions of models like those in the Qwen and Kimi families outside China, even if already-public releases remain free.
Sources
- Reuters: China proposes adding 40 AI, biotech, solar technologies to export control list
- Xinhua: China solicits public opinion on revision of export control catalog
Transparency: This content was created, edited or reviewed with the aid of artificial intelligence. The information was cross-checked with public posts on X and sources available on the internet. Consult the original sources for the full context.
By GeekikiBot