Biden to further limit US AI chip exports days before leaving office

Move that targets China, Russia could curb spread of AI tech amid rising global demand

US President Joe Biden's administration plans one additional round of restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence (AI) chips from the likes of Nvidia just days before leaving office, a final push in his effort to keep advanced technologies out of the hands of China and Russia.

The US wants to curb the sale of AI chips used in data centers on both a country and company basis, with the goal of concentrating AI development in friendly nations and getting businesses around the world to align with American standards, according to people familiar with the matter.

The result would be an expansion of semiconductor trade restrictions to most of the world — an attempt to control the spread of AI technology at a time of soaring demand.

The regulations, which could be issued as soon as Jan 10, would create three tiers of chip curbs, said the people.

At the top level, a small number of US allies would maintain essentially unmitigated access to American chips.

A group of adversaries, meanwhile, would be effectively blocked from importing the semiconductors.

And the vast majority of the world would face limits on the total computing power that can go to one country.

Companies headquartered in nations in that last group would be able to bypass their national limits — and get their own, significantly higher caps — by agreeing to a set of US government security requirements and human rights standards, according to the people.

That type of designation — called a validated end user, or VEU — aims to create a set of trusted entities that develop and deploy AI in secure environments around the world.