China proposes export controls on large AI model weights

MOFCOM and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued Announcement No. 48 of 2026, proposing to add 40 technologies to China's catalogue of prohibited and restricted export technologies, 23 of them AI (large models, agents, computing clusters, information processing). Technology already public through open source or papers is excluded. Comments run 16 October to 15 November, and exporters must register covered exports in the meantime. Bloomberg reported thresholds include models of at least 2 trillion parameters or top-10 global rank.

What it means for business: exports of covered Chinese AI technology now need registration; licences may follow when the catalogue is finalised.