(Yicai) Jan. 16 -- Zhipu AI has strongly opposed the addition of the Chinese large language model developer and its subsidiaries to the US restricted trade list but said this will not have a substantial business impact.

The decision of the US Bureau of Industry and Security to add Zhipu AI to the trade blacklist lacked a factual basis, the Beijing-based company said on WeChat yesterday. "The company has all the core tech it needs to develop artificial intelligence models, so being on the list will not significantly affect its business," it added.

"Zhipu AI can and will be more focused on providing world-class large-scale model technology, products, and services to its users and partners," it noted. The firm has always promoted the development of AI tech with the highest safety standards and fairness, transparency, and sustainability principles, it pointed out.

The BIS' commerce department added 25 Chinese entities to the Export Administration Regulations list yesterday, including 10 entities under Zhipu AI, 11 linked to Chinese customized computing power provider Sophgo, and lithography machine firm Keyi Hongyuan Optoelectronic Technology.

"These additions are being made because these entities advance China's military modernization through the development and integration of advanced artificial intelligence research," the commerce department said. "This activity is contrary to the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States under Section 744.11 of the EAR."

US suppliers will be prohibited from shipping to these entities without first obtaining a special permit. The BIS also updated its export control on advanced computing semiconductors and enhanced the implementation of new export controls on biotechnology equipment involving brain-computer interfaces, AI pharmaceuticals, new materials, and other areas for the first time.

Established in 2019, Zhipu AI derived from the achievements of Tsinghua University. In 2022, it released an open-source Chinese-English bilingual AI model and launched the ChatGLM dialogue model a year later. More than 50 models under its open-source series have accumulated over 30 million downloads worldwide and received over 150,000 GitHub stars.

Last year, Zhipu AI said it banked CNY3 billion (USD409.2 million) in a fundraiser, bringing its market capitalization to over CNY20 billion (USD2.7 billion).

Editor: Martin Kadiev