US Plans Limits on Chinese Investment in Tech Firms

A sign on the Qualcomm campus in San Diego, California, on November 6, 2017. The United States blocked a proposed deal for Singapore-based company Broadcom to acquire the leading American chipmaker, citing concerns that China would eventually gain access to the company's technology. Mike Blake/File Photo/Reuters

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Treasury Department is drafting restrictions that would block firms with at least 25 percent Chinese ownership from buying U.S. companies with “industrially significant technology,” a government official briefed on the matter said on June 24.

The official, whose comments matched a report by The Wall Street Journal, emphasized that the Chinese ownership threshold may change before the restrictions are announced on June 29.