On February 13, the U.S. Department of Defense (Department of War) revised and updated the 1260H list established in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, adding Chinese companies such as Alibaba, Baidu, BYD, 360, WuXi AppTec and Sagitar to the list. However, surprisingly, Yangtze River Storage (YMTC) and Changxin Storage (CXMT), which had previously entered the list, were removed.
The 1260H list is maintained by the U.S. Department of Defense. Its core positioning is to identify and publicize its identified “military-related companies” and restrict their access to the U.S. defense and government procurement supply chain. At the same time, being included on the list also means a warning to U.S. entities and companies that doing business with companies on the list will bring national security risks. It will also cause global commercial customers to actively avoid cooperation due to compliance concerns, which will have a negative impact on the international market expansion and brand reputation of companies included on the list.
It is understood that the 1260H list was first announced in 2021 and has been updated regularly. Previously, many Chinese entities such as Tencent, CATL, and DJI have been included in the list. The current total has exceeded 130 entities, covering companies in many fields such as semiconductors, aviation, construction, shipping, computer hardware manufacturing, and communications.
Among them, Yangtze Storage was included in the 1260H list in 2024, and Changxin Storage was included in January 2025. This time, the two companies were removed from the list, which attracted attention from the outside world.
Some believe that this move is due to the ongoing shortage and skyrocketing prices in the global memory chip market, which has led to serious supply chain problems, forcing the U.S. Department of Defense to temporarily remove memory chip giants Yangtze Memory and Changxin Memory from the list so that suppliers to the U.S. Department of Defense and the federal government can purchase their memory chips to meet the urgent need of almost "cutting off supply."
There have been rumors that due to the shortage of memory chips, American PC manufacturers HP and Dell, as well as Taiwanese PC manufacturers Asus and Acer, are considering purchasing Chinese memory chips.
However, things don't seem to be as optimistic as expected. Because, even if Yangtze Storage and Changxin Storage are not on the "blacklist" of the U.S. Department of Defense, these two Chinese companies still face the control of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Among them, Yangtze Storage has been included in the entity list by the U.S. Department of Commerce. At the same time, Yangtze Memory and Changxin Memory are also restricted by the semiconductor export control policy to China introduced by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2022, making it impossible for them to purchase advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment from the United States.
In addition, shortly after the latest 1260H list was issued by the US Department of Defense, the list was rarely withdrawn. The specific reason is currently unclear.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Department of Defense's latest "1260H list" removed Yangtze Memory and Changxin Memory, triggering strong criticism from "hawks" in the U.S. government. They are worried that the increasingly sophisticated semiconductor manufacturing technologies of these companies may threaten U.S. security.
In a letter to the Federal Register, the Department of Defense said, "We wish to remove this notice from public review and withdraw its publication from the Federal Register." The department did not provide a reason for the withdrawal.
Chris McGuire, who served as an official on the White House National Security Council (NSC) during the term of former US President Biden, said: "I hope (the Pentagon) withdraws the document because the removal of Changxin Storage and Yangtze Storage is a big mistake."
Reuters also recently reported, quoting sources, that the Trump administration has shelved a number of important technological security measures against China, including suspending the ban on China Telecom Group Corporation operating in the United States, suspending the ban on the domestic sales of routers made by China Netcom giant TP-Link, and suspending the ban on the sales of Chinese electric trucks and buses in the United States.
Eric Sayers, a special researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, pointed out: "It seems that when some companies were removed from the list, there were issues related to the cross-department approval process. I think the companies newly added to the list are unlikely to change, but a few removal projects are still under review and may remain on the updated list."