In this photo illustration a Huawei logo is displayed on a smartphone with a Chinese flag in the background.
Beijing has banned semiconductor research firm TechInsights from working with or receiving data from Chinese entities, in a move that could add to the opaqueness of the country's chip industry.
China's Commerce Ministry, citing national security concerns, announced Thursday that TechInsights was designated an "unreliable entity," which prohibits Chinese individuals or organizations from sharing information with the Canadian-based company.
TechInsights is well known in the global tech space for its in-depth coverage of Chinese-made chips and was among the first to report breakthroughs by companies like Huawei Technologies.
Beijing's crackdown on TechInsights came less than a week after the firm revealed that a breakdown of Huawei's latest artificial intelligence chips found components sourced from outside mainland China.
TechInsights didn't respond to a request for comment from CNBC outside normal office hours, while Huawei didn't immediately respond to an inquiry about TechInsights' report.
The findings by TechInsights about Huawei's latest "Ascend" AI chips were consistent with those from other research firms like SemiAnalysis, which said that the Chinese company relies on technology from memory chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).
These companies are under U.S. export controls, restricting them from selling their most advanced technologies to Chinese customers. Moreover, Huawei has been on a U.S. trade blacklist since 2019, barring chip makers that do business with the U.S. from working directly with it.