1. Home
2. News
3. AI policy

Treasury proposes rules on US investment in AI, chips and biotech in countries of concern

The law that backs it adds Russia, Iran and three more countries to China, and Treasury added biotech on top.

By Think Facility · October 23, 2026 · US government AI policy Save

On October 22, 2026, the US Treasury proposed rules that would ban some American investments in companies in "countries of concern" and require notice of others, when those companies work on AI, chips, quantum computing, supercomputers or hypersonic weapons. Treasury added biotechnology to the list on its own authority.

The proposal carries out the COINS Act, which Congress passed in December 2025 as part of the annual defense bill. Comments are open until December 7, 2026, and the final regulations will set the date the program takes effect.

Proposed

October 22, 2026

Law

COINS Act, enacted December 18, 2025

Sectors

five in the act, plus biotechnology

Comments due

December 7, 2026

Takes effect

on a date set by the final implementing regulations

What would change

Treasury already runs an Outbound Investment Security Program, in effect since January 2, 2025 under President Biden's 2023 executive order. It has two tiers: deals that are banned outright, and deals that only need to be reported. It covers China, including Hong Kong and Macau, in three sectors: chips, quantum and AI.

The COINS Act writes that program into law for seven years and widens it. According to the Congressional Research Service, it adds Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela to the countries covered. It also adds high-performance computing, supercomputing and hypersonic systems, and it can reach companies under the "direction or control" of a Chinese firm or party member, not only ones they own half of.

One change is in the wording. The act lists "artificial intelligence systems" as a sector, while Treasury's summary of its proposed technical specifications lists "super intelligence systems" in the same spot. That's the name President Trump announced for AI at the UN (our story).

The thresholds that decide which AI work is banned and which is only reported sit in the proposal itself, a PDF we couldn't read as text, so we've left them out rather than guess.

That's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Assistant Secretary Christopher Pilkerton, who runs investment security, said the rules address the risk of foreign adversaries benefiting from US money in key technology sectors.

Whose money it touches

Most savers won't notice it. The current program doesn't cover investments in publicly traded securities, so buying listed shares isn't affected, and it also leaves out limited partner stakes of $2 million or less in venture capital and private equity funds. The act keeps exemptions like these and lets Treasury set a new minimum below which deals don't count.

The people who'll feel it are venture investors, private equity funds and companies doing joint ventures or building plants abroad. Under the current rule, covered deals include buying equity, some lending, greenfield projects and fund stakes the investor knows will likely flow to a company in a country of concern. Before a deal, a US person would have to make a reasonable and diligent inquiry, and Treasury can void a banned deal or order the investor to sell.

I'd watch the biotech addition most closely, since it reaches past the tech sectors the program started with. The CRS report says US investment in Chinese semiconductors and biotechnology is part of why Congress came back to this issue, and the act lets Treasury add technologies like this only after consulting Congress and taking public comment.

The report also records the business side's view. Some US groups support the narrow approach but worry that foreign firms will take the market share Americans give up in China. The saved sources don't say how much money the new rules would move.

What happens next

Treasury will read the comments before writing final rules, and the act requires a report to Congress on enforcement by June 2027 and every year after that.