US Seeks to Restrict Worldwide Flow of AI Chips

On January 13, the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released a statement announcing new regulations over the exports of computing chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The regulations aim to restrict access to the technology to rival countries while favoring US allies.

Set to go into effect 130 days from publication, the regulatory framework from the BIS consists of three major points; the tightening of existing rules for exports of AI chips, including a hard cap for the number of chips that can be exported to most countries; controls over the export of closed-weight (that is, not available to the public) AI models; and additional security measures for the storage of advanced models.

However, the BIS plan includes some important exceptions, such as the unrestricted flow of chips to 18 US-allied countries, including Britain, South Korea, and Australia, and the option for major cloud service providers like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to request global authorizations to build data centers.

One of the main intended effects of the new regulations is to continue to restrict access to these advanced chips for countries like Russia, China, and Iran while maintaining the economic and technological development related to AI of the US and its allies.

“The United States has a national security responsibility to preserve and extend American AI leadership […]. Today, we are announcing a rule that ensures frontier AI training infrastructure remains in the United States and closely allied countries,” said the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan.

Regulation of AI technology has been a priority in the administration of outgoing president Joe Biden, who issued an executive order calling for safeguards on AI technologies back in October 2023.

AI industry leaders have called out against the framework. In a recent blog post, Ned Flinkle, vice president of government affairs at Nvidia, said it was “drafted in secret and without proper legislative review.”

“While cloaked in the guise of an ‘anti-China’ measure, these rules would do nothing to enhance U.S. security. […] Rather than mitigate any threat, the new Biden rules would only weaken America’s global competitiveness, undermining the innovation that has kept the U.S. ahead,” he continued.

These regulations come as tech and cybersecurity tensions between the two powers grow. Last month, the US government linked a Chinese hacking group to one of the biggest telecommunication hacking campaigns in history.