Figures from a database run by the Export Control Joint Unit, which administers export controls for military and dual-use items, show that the UK has refused 14 licence applications for semiconductor technology to China in 2023 and approved just two.

The prior year, it refused just five licences, while issuing 26, and in 2021, it had issued 26 licences and refused nine.

The majority of refusals were for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, alongside components and software to run the equipment. Nine of the licence refusals – the majority – were for sale to government customers, the figures say.

Semiconductors are the essential foundation of modern computer systems and the most modern and powerful technologies are crucial to developing AI.

The figures do not reveal what type of technology that companies were looking to export, but the higher number of refusals suggest a stricter approach to the export of British technology.

British AI chip company Graphcore closed its China business in November and laid off its staff in the country, citing export controls on selling technology in the country, although US restrictions are believed to have been a significant factor.