SAN FRANCISCO: The United States on Monday introduced new export rules on advanced computing chips used for artificial intelligence, aiming to facilitate sales to allied countries and further restrict access to countries like China.
The new restrictions, which also impose limits on the weights of closed AI models, build upon the measures introduced in 2023 that restricted the export of certain AI chips to China. The United States considers China a strategic competitor in the area of advanced semiconductors.
“The US leads the world in AI now — both AI development and AI chip design — and it’s critical that we keep it that way,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters.
The new rules update controls on chips, requiring authorisations for exports, re-exports and in-country transfers — while also including a series of exceptions for countries considered friendly to the United States.
AI data centres, meanwhile, will be required to meet stricter security standards in order to import chips.
The rules make it “hard for our strategic competitors to use smuggling and remote access to evade our export control,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said while creating “incentives for our friends and partners around the world to use trusted vendors for advanced AI.”
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The new rules will go into effect in 120 days, Raimondo said, giving the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump time to potentially make changes.
Trump imposed high tariffs on China during his first term. However, his supporters in Silicon Valley could also see the rules as an undue burden on their ability to export products.
