U.S. Treasury Plans to Expand Sensitive Technology Investment Restrictions on China and Other Countries, Further Tightening AI and Biotechnology Regulations

The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued proposed rules to implement the COINS Act, aiming to further expand U.S. outbound investment restrictions in certain sensitive technology sectors targeting "countries of concern." The existing regime primarily targets entities related to China, while the proposed rules seek to further tighten restrictions on AI and semiconductors on that basis, extending the regulatory framework to encompass additional sensitive technologies and jurisdictions. In the AI sector, certain investments that remain permissible post-filing under current rules will be converted to outright prohibitions; regarding semiconductors, high bandwidth memory, photonic chips, and radiation-hardened chips will also be subject to stricter restrictions. Meanwhile, biotechnology has been added as a priority regulatory domain, covering areas such as brain-computer interfaces and automated laboratory software.