The Chinese government plans to ban exports of critical semiconductor components including metals gallium, antimony, and germanium and superhard materials.

The country said that it was due to “national security” concerns, but came a day after the US enacted its own export bans.

The Chinese government said that graphite would be subject to “stricter reviews of end-users and end-uses." It added that it would block “dual-use items to United States military users or for military purposes."

China’s commerce ministry said: "To safeguard national security interests and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation, China has decided to strengthen export controls on relevant dual-use items to the United States."

The country is responsible for 94 percent of the world’s production of gallium, and 83 percent of germanium.

Germanium is also used in the production of fiber optic cables and solar cells.

The day before the ban, the US Department of Commerce announced its own bans " designed to further impair the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) capability to produce advanced-node semiconductors" for weapons, AI, and advanced computing.

It included further controls on 24 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and three types of software tools for developing or producing semiconductors; new controls on high-bandwidth memory (HBM); and new red flag guidance to address compliance and diversion concerns.

140 companies were added to the Entity List, where US companies cannot do business with them. Chinese chip firms Piotech and SiCarrier are among the new entrants.

After the ban, the Internet Society of China said that domestic companies should reconsider their use of US chips, and said that chip export controls have caused "substantial harm" to the healthy and stable development of China's Internet industry.

The US government said that it was evaluating China's export ban, and would take "necessary steps" in response.