US Moves to Close Loopholes China Is Exploiting to Secure AI Chips
The White House is tightening US rules that block AI chip sales to China in an attempt to close loopholes the country has been using to secure the technology.
"Today’s updated rules will increase effectiveness of our controls and further shut off pathways to evade our restrictions,” says US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
A year ago, the Biden administration announced the original restrictions, which were designed to prevent the Chinese government and the country’s companies from obtaining the most advanced computer chips. The White House fears China will use the processors to power military supercomputers and other technologies, including surveillance, that could pose a threat to US national security and human rights.
The rise of generative AI, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has only heightened the Biden administration’s concerns. But despite the original restrictions, Chinese companies have still been spotted spending billions on AI chips, particularly those from Nvidia.
In response, the Commerce Department has expanded the original restrictions. One of the new rules calls for a new “performance density threshold,” which is specifically designed to stymie China from working around US restrictions.
“A performance density parameter prevents the workaround of simply purchasing a larger number of smaller datacenter AI chips which, if combined, would be equally powerful as restricted chips,” says the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.
This means US companies will need to first notify the federal government when selling a large number of less powerful AI chips to a Chinese company. The US government will then determine within 25 days if the transaction can proceed or if it instead requires a license.
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