Genuine question: what’s the real problem? As a non-american, I can’t get it.

I mean, it’s not like they’re smuggling these chips to China, but doing a legitimate acquisition. Don’t want them to get access to U.S. tech? Simply don’t sell it to any other country that buys/sells to China, since they could trade or resell those chips to them. Also, AFAIK most international trades are done using U.S. dollars, so limiting U.S. companies from trading won’t solve the problem.

I’m not an economist, so feel free to correct me