Investing.com -- The Biden administration is set to release a long-awaited executive order Wednesday that bans U.S. private equity and venture capital groups from making investments into some Chinese technology businesses, according to multiple media reports.
The order is expected to particularly screen outbound stakes taken in companies in China specializing in sensitive technologies like artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing.
Some investments in these technologies will reportedly be prohibited, while Americans who own stakes impacted by the order must disclose their holdings to the government. Investors violating the rules could be subject to fines or forced to divest their stakes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In effect, the move is widely seen as an attempt by Washington to limit growth in technologies that could pose U.S. national security risks or boost the advancement of Beijing's military capabilities.
Last week, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington hit out at the potential executive order, telling Reuters that the U.S. "habitually politicizes technology and trade issues and uses them as a tool and weapon in the name of national security."