The Hindu reported that China on Friday, 16 October 2026, released a draft plan to limit exports of 40 technologies in AI, biomedicine and solar power. The plan is called Announcement No. 48. The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued it. Fourteen technologies would be banned outright, The Hindu said. These include AI that could write and alter malicious code, some cell and gene therapy platforms, and next-generation solar cell manufacturing. Another 26 would face limits. One example is polysilicon technology for production lines making at least 30,000 tonnes a year.
The Commerce Ministry said the plan adds 12 solar technologies and 23 AI technologies. The AI items cover foundation models, intelligent agents and computing clusters. It said most AI and solar technologies would stay freely exportable. It also said technologies already public through open-source releases or academic papers would generally be exempt. The Hindu does not say when the rules would start or whether the public can comment. It also does not list the biomedical items beyond cell and gene therapy. The article says "more than 40" technologies in one place and 40 in another, but the 14 and 26 add up to 40.
The Hindu said the solar limits could affect countries such as India that want to rely less on China. For teams that build or buy AI tools, the draft names models, agents and computing clusters as covered areas. The final list will show which items are affected.