OpenAI and Google Confirmed Selling AI Models to Singapore Subsidiaries of Pentagon-Blacklisted Chinese Tech Giants

OpenAI and Google confirmed to the Financial Times on July 10, 2026, that they supply advanced AI services to Singapore-registered subsidiaries of Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent — all three listed on the Pentagon's Section 1260H military blacklist. The transactions are legal under current U.S. law, which restricts named entities and mainland China but not subsidiaries incorporated in third countries such as Singapore. OpenAI blocks direct access from China but permits use in jurisdictions where it says it can enforce safeguards; it suspended API access for Alibaba-affiliated users in June 2026 after detecting suspected model distillation, and reported the activity to the U.S. government. Google similarly allows access in Singapore and Hong Kong subject to usage policies. Anthropic takes a stricter position, banning all Chinese-affiliated entities from its models regardless of incorporation country, and separately alleged in a June 2026 Senate letter that Alibaba-linked operators generated over 28.8 million Claude interactions through approximately 25,000 fraudulent accounts. Alibaba has filed suit to be removed from the 1260H list, calling the designation arbitrary. The disclosures have intensified Washington debate over whether AI software exports should face controls comparable to those already applied to advanced semiconductors.

AI sales to Chinese firms

• ▪Anthropic informed the United States Congress in June 2026 that Alibaba used approximately 25,000 fraudulent accounts to generate over 28.8 million interactions with the Claude model.
• ▪Alibaba filed a lawsuit in a United States federal court in June 2026 seeking removal from the Department of Defense's Section 1260H blacklist.
• ▪OpenAI and Google confirmed supplying advanced artificial intelligence models to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese technology companies Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent.
• ▪The provision of artificial intelligence services by OpenAI and Google to Singapore-based subsidiaries of blacklisted Chinese firms does not violate existing United States laws.
• ▪OpenAI suspended application programming interface access for Alibaba-affiliated users in June 2026 after identifying suspected model distillation and reported the activity to the United States government.
• ▪Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent are listed on the United States Department of Defense's Section 1260H blacklist over alleged ties to the Chinese military.
• ▪United States export controls restrict access to specific frontier models, including Anthropic's Mythos and Fable and OpenAI's GPT-5.6, but do not ban software sales to blacklisted Chinese firms' overseas subsidiaries.
• ▪Anthropic maintains a policy banning Chinese companies and their foreign subsidiaries from accessing its advanced artificial intelligence models.