Export Control Checker
What you ship, where it goes, and who uses it for what — three factors decide whether an export is free, licensable, or prohibited. An educational screening aid for chips, tools and IP.
Datacenter GPUs, advanced AI chips above performance thresholds — the most tightly controlled category.
Determination console
This combination is very likely prohibited or subject to a policy of denial. Do not proceed without formal legal/compliance review and, where applicable, a license application — which may be denied.
Factors: a 5/5-sensitivity item to a tier-3 destination.
Always obtain a formal classification (ECCN/USML), screen all parties against restricted-party lists, and consult qualified trade-compliance counsel before exporting. This output is educational only.
Feed controlled-product exposure into the China Risk Calculator; screen recipients in the Sanctions Exposure Scanner.
Why export control is unavoidable now
Export control turns on what you ship (technology sensitivity), where it goes (destination), and who uses it for what (end-user and end-use). All three combine — a benign product can become controlled by destination or end-use alone.
Advanced AI chips, the tools that make them, and the IP behind them sit at the centre of modern export controls. Performance thresholds and destination rules here change faster than any other category.
Even an otherwise-exportable item can be blocked by a military, weapons, or prohibited end-use — and selling to an entity-listed party can be barred regardless of the product. Screening the recipient is non-negotiable.
Export-control violations carry heavy fines, loss of export privileges and criminal liability. This makes a formal classification and end-user screening a compliance necessity, not a formality — and a tool like this a starting point, never the final word.
Three questions, severe stakes
Export control has moved from a back-office formality to a front-and-centre constraint on the semiconductor business, and the logic that governs it comes down to three questions. What are you shipping — how sensitive is the technology, from a mature commodity chip to an advanced AI accelerator or the equipment that makes one? Where is it going — a close ally, a neutral country, or a restricted or embargoed destination? And who will use it, for what — a civilian buyer, or a military or otherwise prohibited end-use, or a party named on a restricted list? The three combine, and any one of them can dominate.
Advanced compute is the front line. The most capable AI chips, the high-bandwidth memory that feeds them, the lithography and process equipment that fabricates them, and the design software behind them sit at the centre of modern controls, with performance thresholds and destination rules that change faster than any other category as governments respond to a strategic competition playing out in silicon. A product that was freely exportable last year may be controlled this year.
The factor people most often underestimate is that end-use and end-user can override the product entirely. An otherwise-exportable item can be blocked by a prohibited end-use, and selling to an entity-listed party can be barred regardless of what the product is. Knowledge of — or even red flags suggesting — a prohibited use creates an affirmative obligation not to proceed. That's why screening the recipient and understanding the end-use is non-negotiable, not a nice-to-have.
And the stakes are severe: heavy fines, loss of export privileges, and criminal liability for willful violations, for companies and individuals alike. That severity is exactly why a tool like this can only ever be a starting point — an educational aid to understand the factors and recognize when expert review is required, never the basis for an actual shipment. Use it to build intuition and triage, then feed controlled-product exposure into the China Risk Calculator and screen all parties in the Sanctions Exposure Scanner — and always, for any real export, engage qualified compliance and legal professionals.
Trusted by Trade-Compliance Teams
“As a training and triage aid this is excellent — the sensitivity × destination × end-use framing is exactly how I teach new analysts to think before they touch the actual ECCN work. The entity-listed factor overriding product logic is the lesson that prevents the worst mistakes. And it's appropriately emphatic that it's not a substitute for formal compliance. Genuinely useful for building intuition.”
“The three-factors-decide-it model and the clear escalation to license-required and likely-denied mirror real determination logic well. I appreciate how firmly it disclaims being legal advice — that responsibility matters in this domain. Pairs naturally with the China risk tool's controlled-tech exposure. A solid educational front door.”
“Clean, fast way to illustrate why an advanced AI chip to a restricted destination for military use is a non-starter while a mature chip to an ally is routine. The end-use-overrides-everything point is well made. Would never use it for actual decisions — and it tells you not to — but for stakeholder education it's exactly right.”
“The preset scenarios make the logic click for non-specialists, and the advice text correctly routes every case to formal review. Emphasizing the severe penalties keeps people honest. Chains into our China-exposure and sanctions workflow. The right balance of helpful and appropriately cautious.”
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determination ← product sensitivity + destination tier + end-use + recipient screening · Educational only, NOT legal advice · Last reviewed: 2026-06