What happened
On 16 October 2026, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) jointly issued Announcement No. 48 of 2026 proposing to add 40 technologies to the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export — including 23 AI technologies covering large language models, intelligent agents, computing clusters and information processing. Simultaneously, and effective immediately from 16 October until the revised Catalogue takes effect, exporters of covered technologies must register transactions in advance through MOFCOM's technology-trade management system (ecomp.mofcom.gov.cn), including already-commenced but uncompleted exports, technology licensing for overseas use, and ownership/actual-control transfers to foreign entities. Public comment runs 16 October to 15 November 2026. The official Q&A clarifies that overseas localization/deployment of restricted AI technology generally counts as technology export (with simplified procedures for deployment via the Chinese company's own overseas cloud), while pure API services to overseas users and technologies already in the public domain via open-source/academic release are excluded.
Why it matters
This is a landmark, immediately-binding Chinese export-control action that directly governs how Chinese frontier AI model weights, agent systems and computing-cluster technologies may be transferred, licensed or deployed overseas — the mirror image of US AI-chip export controls. Any foreign business licensing or acquiring Chinese AI technology, or any firm relying on cross-border AI technology transfer involving Chinese counterparties, must now comply with the pre-export registration obligation before final catalogue terms are fixed. It materially reshapes the global AI supply chain and who can obtain Chinese frontier-model technology.
Action needed
Exporters and their foreign partners must review ongoing and planned technology-export/licensing transactions for coverage and register them via ecomp.mofcom.gov.cn before proceeding; submit public comments by 15 November 2026; monitor the final revised Catalogue.