US prepares new rules on investment in technology abroad- WSJ

(Reuters) – The Treasury Department is preparing a new program that could prohibit U.S. investment in certain sectors of adversarial nations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing copies of reports provided to lawmakers on Capitol Hill viewed by the newspaper.

The Biden administration’s work on the new rules would in practice largely deal with U.S. investments in China though the report given to lawmakers did not identify any countries, the WSJ said.

The new rules are expected to cover private-equity and venture-capital investments in advanced semiconductors, supercomputing and some forms of artificial intelligence, the WSJ reported quoting people familiar with the matter as saying.

The Treasury and Commerce departments expected to finalize their policy in the near future, it added.

Reuters reported last month that Biden administration was planning an outright ban on investments in some Chinese technology companies and increased scrutiny of others.

The United States passed a sweeping set of regulations last year that aimed at hobbling China’s semiconductor industry.

(Reporting by Jose Joseph and Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Simon Cameron-Moore)