CHINA

Top AI Conference Tightens Sanctions Compliance, Snaring Chinese Tech Giants

Published: Mar. 26, 2026 9:42 p.m. GMT+8

00:00

00:00/00:00

Listen to this article 1x

Founded in 1987, NeurIPS is among the largest and most influential gatherings in artificial intelligence. Photo：IC photo

The world’s top artificial-intelligence conference will bar research papers from organizations on a U.S. sanctions list, a new rule that affects a range of Chinese technology groups and has prompted a backlash in China’s academic community.

The Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, known as NeurIPS, for the first time has explicitly tied paper submissions to U.S. sanctions compliance. In a handbook for its 2026 conference released March 23, the NeurIPS Foundation said it can’t provide “services” — including peer review and publication — to individuals representing sanctioned entities.

You've accessed an article available only to subscribers

Subscribe today for just $.99.

VIEW OPTIONS

Unlock exclusive discounts with a Caixin group subscription — ideal for teams and organizations.

Subscribe to both Caixin Global and The Wall Street Journal — for the price of one.

Share this article

Open WeChat and scan the QR code

DIGEST HUB

Digest Hub

Back

Explore the story in 30 seconds

NeurIPS 2026 will bar paper submissions from organizations on the U.S. Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list, affecting several Chinese tech companies.
The policy has triggered backlash and calls for boycott from China’s academic community, with senior researchers resigning and the CCF urging disengagement unless the rule changes.
Critics argue the rule politicizes academic exchange and risks fragmenting international AI research collaboration.

AI generated, for reference only

Who’s Who

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.: Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is a Chinese technology company that has been placed on the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. Due to this, the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) will bar research papers from Huawei, impacting their participation in the world's top artificial intelligence conference.

SenseTime Group Inc.: SenseTime Group Inc. (商汤集团有限公司) is a Chinese technology company that has been placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. Due to this sanction, research papers from SenseTime and other listed entities are now barred from submission to the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) starting with its 2026 conference.

Megvii Technology Ltd.: Megvii Technology Ltd. is a Chinese technology group that is currently on the U.S. Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals list. As a result of a new policy by the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), research papers from Megvii Technology Ltd. will be barred from submission to the conference.

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co.: Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. is a Chinese company on the U.S. Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals list. This list causes an issue with the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) because NeurIPS has explicitly tied paper submissions to U.S. sanctions compliance.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) is a Chinese technology group. As of March 2026, it is included on the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. This designation means SMIC is subject to U.S. sanctions, impacting its eligibility to participate in events like the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) which now explicitly bars submissions from sanctioned entities.

Tencent: Tencent's Digital Human Center leader, Tu Zhaopeng, and Chang Heng from Tencent AI Lab, have declined senior roles at the 2026 Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS). This decision follows NeurIPS's new policy barring research papers from organizations on U.S. sanctions lists, a move that has sparked widespread criticism in China's academic community.

Google: Google is mentioned in the context of a landmark paper published at the NeurIPS conference in 2017. This paper introduced the Transformer architecture, which is fundamental to many large language models commonly used today.

AI generated, for reference only

What Happened When

1987：: NeurIPS was founded.

2004：: OFAC clarified that standard peer review and copyediting are permissible but substantively rewriting, restructuring, or co-authoring with a sanctioned party could be prohibited services.

2017：: NeurIPS published a Google paper introducing the Transformer architecture.

Since 2020：: Jiang Nan, associate professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, had reviewed papers for NeurIPS until he declined in 2026, for the first time since 2020.

March 23, 2026：: NeurIPS Foundation released a handbook for its 2026 conference explicitly tying paper submissions to U.S. sanctions compliance.

March 25, 2026：: China Computer Federation (CCF) issued a statement opposing the NeurIPS policy and called on Chinese researchers to withhold academic services and refrain from submitting papers.

As of late March 2026：: Chinese companies including Huawei, SenseTime, Megvii, Hikvision, and SMIC were listed on the U.S. Treasury's OFAC SDN sanctions list, with no Chinese universities publicly added.

AI generated, for reference only