US adds popular Chinese firms to Pentagon's 'Chinese military company' list: Who's on it?
Image credit: AP Companies added to Pentagon's 1260H list Decision follows Trump-Xi meeting The Pentagon on Monday reinstated and expanded a list of Chinese companies
Image credit: AP Companies added to Pentagon's 1260H list Decision follows Trump-Xi meeting The Pentagon on Monday reinstated and expanded a list of Chinese companies it accuses of supporting China's military, naming major firms including Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu Inc., Tencent Holdings and electric vehicle maker BYD Co. The move is likely to add further strain to already tense US-China relations.The US Department of Defense said the companies had been added to its so-called 1260H list, which identifies entities determined by Washington to be aiding China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). The updated roster largely mirrors a version that briefly appeared in February before being withdrawn within minutes, a reversal that sparked confusion and revealed internal disagreements within the US government.With the latest update, the Pentagon has formally designated three of China's most prominent artificial intelligence companies, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, as entities supporting China's armed forces. Tencent was first added to the list in 2025 and has since sought its removal. The inclusion of BYD extends the designation to China's largest electric vehicle manufacturer.The Pentagon also restored two Chinese memory chipmakers, ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies, which had previously been listed but were omitted from the short-lived February version.While the 1260H designation carries limited immediate legal consequences, US officials have increasingly used it to restrict companies' ability to secure contracts with the US military or receive US government research funding.
The designation also serves as a warning to American investors and is widely viewed as a potential precursor to stricter trade or technology restrictions.Most of the companies, including Alibaba, Baidu and BYD, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg News. Several have previously rejected US allegations that they support the Chinese military.China's embassy in Washington did not immediately comment. Previously, embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu urged the United States to correct what Beijing described as "wrong practices" and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies.The publication of the list comes less than a month after US President Donald Trump met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where the two leaders discussed trade disputes between the world's two largest economies. The meeting failed to produce a significant easing of tensions over advanced technologies, particularly artificial intelligence."The Pentagon's republished Chinese military companies list serves as a post-summit reality check," said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He added that the meeting clarified areas where competition between Washington and Beijing would continue.Also added to the list was WuXi AppTec, a pharmaceutical contractor that has worked with many of the world's largest drugmakers.
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