Chinese chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), which reportedly supplies Qualcomm, Broadcom, and others, has been put on the Department of Commerce's Entities List, meaning U.S. manufacturers are presumptively barred from selling to the company.

It Joins other prominent Chinese tech giants including Huawei and ZTE on that list of companies non grata.

The Department of Commerce announced the move early Friday (Dec. 18) after Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed it on Fox Business, according to Bloomberg.

Also Read: Commerce Expands Huawei Restrictions

According to Commerce, that decision "limits SMIC’s ability to acquire certain U.S. technology by requiring U.S. exporters to apply for a license to sell to the company. Items uniquely required to produce semiconductors at advanced technology nodes—10 nanometers or below—will be subject to a presumption of denial to prevent such key enabling technology from supporting China’s military-civil fusion efforts."

“We will not allow advanced U.S. technology to help build the military of an increasingly belligerent adversary. Between SMIC’s relationships of concern with the military industrial complex, China’s aggressive application of military civil fusion mandates and state-directed subsidies, SMIC perfectly illustrates the risks of China’s leverage of U.S. technology to support its military modernization,” said Ross in a statement supplied to Multichannel News. 

Also Read: ZTE Says Denial Order Is Unfair

Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security uses the list to restrict the export, re-export or transport inside the country of U.S. tech to companies or persons "reasonably believed to be involved, or to pose a significant risk of becoming involved, in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States."

There had been reports dating back several weeks that SMIC was headed for restrictions based on its connection to the Chinese military industrial complex.

White House officials declined to identify Chinese telecom Huawei Wednesday (May 15) as one of the companies whose technology the Department of Commerce can now decide poses a threat to national security per a new executive order, but at about the same time Commerce announced it had put Huawei on a suspect company list that leaves its future in the U.S. very much in doubt.

That list does not ban the sale or transfer of U.S. tech--like chips--to Huawei, but adding Huawei to the Bureau's Entity List (not to be confused with enemies list), means that such sale or transfer requires a license from Commerce, which said it has a "reasonable basis" to conclude that Huawei "is engaged in activities that are contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interest."

The license can be denied if a deal "would harm U.S. national security or foreign policy interest," which sounds like Huawei has a high hurdle to overcome.

Related: POTUS Gets Plaudits for Crackdown on Suspect Tech

“This action by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, with the support of the President of the United States, places Huawei, a Chinese owned company that is the largest telecommunications equipment producer in the world, on the Entity List," said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. "This will prevent American technology from being used by foreign owned entities in ways that potentially undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests," he said.

Helping Commerce toward that move was the Justice Department's indictment of the company for "alleged violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), conspiracy to violate IEEPA by providing prohibited financial services to Iran, and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation of those alleged violations of U.S. sanctions."

“Huawei is a state-directed instrument of national power used by the Chinese government and Communist Party to destroy their international competitors, undermine U.S. companies, spy on foreign countries, and steal intellectual property and trade secrets,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been one of Huawei's most vociferous critics in Congress. “I strongly support the President’s executive order and Secretary Ross’s decision to issue a denial of export privileges against Huawei. The administration deserves enormous credit for their efforts to comprehensively tackle the threat that Huawei and other foreign state-directed telecommunications companies pose through their efforts to undermine and endanger critical U.S. systems and infrastructure."

“I have spoken to Secretary of Commerce Ross to offer my full support for the administration’s decision to include Huawei on the Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List," said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. "This is a necessary step to prevent the use of communications equipment that poses a threat to the United States. As chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, I stand ready to work with the administration and stakeholders to protect our national security and win the race to 5G.”

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Russ signaled Tuesday that if a Sprint-T-Mobile merger proved a 5G spur to AT&T and Verizon, that could be a good thing.

The CEOs of Sprint and T-Mobile, which have proposed yet again to try and merge -- their third attempt -- pitched the deal as a way to beat China to the next-gen wireless broadband punch.

In an interview on CNBC, Ross was asked whether the companies' CEOs were correct that China was ahead of the U.S.

Ross said it was hard to say who was ahead or behind until the technology was "truly perfected," which he said has not happened yet.

But he described the pitch from Sprint and T-Mobile that their merger "would propel Verizon and AT&T into more active pursuit of 5G" as "an interesting one."

Read More: Complete Coverage of the T-Mobile-Sprint Deal

Commerce does not have a role reviewing the proposed deal, but its National Telecommunications & Information Administration is the White House's top communications policy adviser.

"Whoever pursues it, whoever does it, we're very much in support of 5G," Ross said. "We need it for defense; we need it for commercial purposes; we really need to be a player in 5G."

Former FCC chair Tom Wheeler has been arguing that a shared commercial 5G network with some government participation (given national security implications) was preferable to counting on the merger of the third and fourth largest wireless companies to advance U.S. 5G.

AT&T has been awarded the multi-billion-dollar, 25-year contract to build and maintain FirstNet, the interoperable first responder public safety network proposed by the 911 Commission well over a decade ago following first responder communication failures during the attack's tragic aftermath.

Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross made the announcement Thursday at a signing ceremony. The network is a $46.5 billion public/private partnership with Commerce. Ross said the network will create 10,000 jobs initially and thousands more down the line.

Essentially, FirstNet will have priority use of spectrum whenever it is needed for emergency communications. It was funded through the FCC's AWS-3 wireless spectrum auction. If the AWS-3 auction had not covered it, the money would have had to come out of the broadcast incentive auction.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said AT&T was honored to build the network for first responders that he said would be "second to none."

He said AT&T would spend $40 billion on the network beginning this fall, creating those 10,000 jobs over the next two years. "We're ready to get started," he said, and thanked Ross for the opportunity. At the contract signing, Stephenson turned to Ross and emphasized AT&T's $40 billion. Ross responded: "$46.5 billion." That $6.5 is the government's contribution via the spectrum auction proceeds.

AT&T also said in a statement on the contract that it will give first responders access to its existing network assets, which the company valued at more than $180 million.

In addition to Ross and Stephenson, among those on hand for the announcement were FCC chairman Ajit Pai and House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.). Walden was a prime mover behind the spectrum auction legislation of which FirstNet was an important part. Ross called him "the godfather" of the FirstNet project, along with Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), former chair of the Senate Commerce Committee.

Walden thanked staffers David Redl and Ray Baum for their work on the project, and gave shout outs to Communications Subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Democrats Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and former House E&C Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who was in the audience, for their work as well.

Walden commended the FirstNet board and execs. He pointed out that as a former small market radio owner, he knew the value of having instant communications. "This is a huge step forward," he said. He also thanked the FCC, particularly under the "able leadership" of Pai.

Blackburn thanked first responders. She said FirstNet would bring safety "to our communities and our streets." She said she was pleased AT&T would be part of the process of building out the network, and showing that government and the private sector can get together to solve problems. She said her subcommittee will be a part of the proces as well.

Pai said the first task of any nation is to keep its people safe, which is difficult in a digital age.

He said he was honored to congratulate FirstNet, calling the signing ceremony a capstone of years of work. He thanked all those in Congress who helped push FirstNet across the finish line. He said FCC was committed to the network, pointing out the FCC had freed up the 20 MHz of spectrum in the 700 M

The announcement followed the FirstNet board's unanimous authorization for FirstNet CEO Mike Poth—or someone he designated—to finalize awarding of the contract, a move that drew the praise of the Competitive Carriers Association, whose members are ready to team up with the winner to help reach the rural areas they serve.

In August, the board approved $6.5 billion in support of the contract—though the network could ultimately cost much more—and in December unveiled a plan for the first three months after the award is granted, which should be kicking in Thursday. 

FirstNet also earlier this month resolved a complaint about the contract-awarding process, paving the way for the award.

"FirstNet today took a major leap forward in delivering a dedicated national network that will give first responders the bandwidth, speed, security, and reliability they clearly need," said Telecommunications Industry Association senior VP Cinnamon Rogers. "We applaud FirstNet for its expeditious work to finalize this decision, and we believe AT&T understands the challenges of this project and has the experience and leadership needed to drive it forward. The two organizations will now begin the vital work of building a network that leads to more efficient public safety communications—and ultimately, saves lives."

The Senate Commerce Committee has favorably reported out the MOBILE Now Act, which promotes freeing up unlicensed spectrum for wireless, and the Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act, which consolidates eight FCC reports into a single survey of marketplace competitiveness.

Commerce Secretary nominee Wilbur Ross was also favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee Tuesday by unanimous voice vote.

Committee chairman John Thune called those and other bills on the docket—which had been introduced in previous Congresses but had not made it into a law—a "clean-up" agenda before the committee starts tackling new legislation.

The bills now head to the Senate floor. The House Monday (Jan. 23) passed its version of the FCC consolidated reports bill.

Also reported favorably to the full senate was the DIGIT Act. The bill, which was introduced in the last Congress, would "convene a working group of federal entities that would consult with private sector stakeholders to provide recommendations to Congress." Those would include how to encourage the growth of IoT, seeking input from the private sector to help prevent "regulatory silos."

It would also direct the FCC to launch a proceeding on the spectrum needs of IoT.

"I’m pleased that the Committee advanced the MOBILE NOW Act to support 5G spectrum and streamlined deployment, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas, including federal lands," said Competitive Carriers Association President Steven K. Berry following the Committee's executive meeting.

"The MOBILE NOW Act will help our future by allocating additional spectrum for commercial use by 2020," said Consumer Technology Association President Gary Shapiro. This will create better mobile broadband for consumers and is critical to the success of future innovations, including the development of the next generation of cellular 5G technologies.  

“The MOBILE NOW Act promotes the efficient use of Federal spectrum, while freeing up significant bandwidth for both commercial licensed and unlicensed use," said Phillip Berenbroick, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge. "The bill’s unanimous advancement further demonstrates the overwhelming consensus that unlicensed spectrum and democratized access to the public airwaves are key drivers to economic growth and innovation."

“Particularly as our nation looks to promote advanced communications, it will become more critical than ever to ensure the availability of sufficient spectrum and facilitate the ability to install robust wireline and wireless facilities capable of handling the vastly increased consumer demands that such services enable,” said NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association chief executive Shirley Bloomfield. “Therefore, NTCA applauds the aim of MOBILE NOW to streamline the deployment of communications facilities and expand the definition of the types of infrastructure covered by the streamlined process."

Ranking member Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he and his Democratic colleagues will unveil a "robust blueprint to rebuild America's infrastructure proposal at noon Tuesday. He said it would invest a trillion dollars and create 15 million jobs. It will almost certainly also include a broadband component.

President Donald Trump has said he wants to invest a trillion dollars in an infrastructure remake.

C-SPAN, the public service platforms funded and supported by the cable industry, will provide live gavel-to-gavel coverage of a lot of gavels this week as Congress holds confirmation hearing sessions (a couple are two-day affairs) on a host of Donald Trump's nominees for top administration posts.

A spokesperson for the Senate Small Business Committee said that at press time there was no date yet for the confirmation hearing of Small Business Administration nominee Linda McMahon (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/trump-taps-wwes-linda-m...), co-founder and former CEO of WWE, the TV wrestling empire.

The President-elect has yet to announce nominees for the chairmanship of the FCC. If past is prologue that may not come until after the election, with an interim chair, likely senior commission Republican Ajit Pai, tapped from sitting commissioners in the interim, particularly since that agency will be 2-1 Republican as of Jan. 20.

For political junkies and others, here is the lineup for C-SPAN coverage of the nominees getting vetted on the Hill this week:

Tuesday (Jan. 10)

9:30 a.m. Senate Judiciary: Sen. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General (Day 1). Live on C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN.org.

3:30p-7:30 p.m. Senate Homeland Security: John Kelly, Homeland Security Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

Wednesday (Jan. 11)

9:15 a.m.-4 p.m. Senate Foreign Relations: Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State (Day 1). Live on C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN.org.

9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Senate Judiciary: Sen. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General (Day 2). Live on C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions: Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Intelligence: Rep. Mike Pompeo, CIA Director. Live on C-SPAN.org.

10:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Commerce: Elaine Chao, Transportation Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

Thursday
9:30a.m.-1:30 p.m. Senate Armed Services: James Mattis, Defense Secretary. Live on C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio and C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Commerce: Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Senate Banking: Ben Carson, Housing & Urban Development Secretary. Live on C-SPAN.org.