Restrictions on the transfer of AI chips and semiconductor technology to China and Russia have been made public by the Biden administration. In recent announcements, Nvidia and AMD claimed that US officials had warned them of the export laws. These steps are a part of the US strategy to combat Chinese supercomputing advancements, which may limit China’s ability to produce significant quantities of WMD.
These rules require all chip producers to immediately stop exporting to China integrated circuits for supercomputers, advanced computing chips, AI training chips, and technology to produce such high-end devices. The US government “extended US government consideration of the impact of supercomputers and semiconductor manufacturing equipment on enabling military modernization, including the development of weapons of mass destruction and human rights abuses,” according to the official federal notice, which stated that these regulations were required.
Impact on US Companies:
Nvidia’s stock price fell 6.6% in a short of hours following the announcement. The chip company stated that it has sales of the implicated chips booked to China for $400 million that could be lost. These limitations apply to the H100, which Nvidia expects to begin shipping in the upcoming weeks, as well as the A100 chip’s sales. They are currently the most sophisticated AI processors available. The precise standards by which the US Department of Commerce selects specific technology have not yet been specified.
The new rule, however, “will address the possibility that products may be used in, or diverted to, a’military end use’ or’military end user’ in China,” US officials told Nvidia.
The limits had a similar effect on AMD, Nvidia’s main rival, with their share prices falling by 3.7%. AMD believes they may continue to freely trade in M100 processors despite the prohibition on its M125 chipsets. Since Nvidia dominates the semiconductor business, the rule is anticipated to have a more significant effect on it. The new regulations, in contrast, won’t materially affect AMD’s business, according to their statement.
What Is the Biden Administration Thinking?
Many prominent figures in the tech sector have previously expressed concern about China’s rapidly expanding AI capability. The United States “is not prepared to defend and compete in the AI era,” according to Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. The Biden administration has taken action to prohibit the export of microchips that can be utilised in the creation of AI-enabled military and surveillance equipment in order to reduce these dangers to national security. China has faced criticism in recent years for employing artificial intelligence in surveillance systems intended to target Uyghur Muslims.
The new regulations, according to the Biden administration, are intended to stop foreign companies from supplying China advanced chips or equipment that could be used to create their own advanced chips. At the time, they said that the U.S. had not yet received guarantees from allies that they would follow suit. Since then, Taiwan has sent a message that its semiconductor firms will abide by the new U.S. export restrictions as tensions between Taiwan and China continue to rise.
