The U.S. is reportedly mulling new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips to China.
The Commerce Department could move to stop the exporting of chips made by Nvidia and other companies to customers in China as early as July, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
The potential restrictions would be an extension of the export control measures the U.S. announced in October that required companies like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to obtain licenses to deliver powerful AI chips to China.
In order to meet export control rules, Nvidia said at the time that it would offer a new advanced chip called the A800 in China. The company also tweaked its flagship H100 chip early this year to comply with regulations.
An Nvidia Corp. chip during the Taipei Computex expo in Taipei, Taiwan, on Monday, May 29, 2023. (Photographer: I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Commerce Department and Nvidia declined to comment. AMD did not respond to FOX Business' request for comment.
However, the new curbs being mulled by the department would ban the sale of even A800 chips without a special U.S. export license, the Journal's report added.
Meanwhile, shares of Nvidia, AMD and Micron Technology were lower on the news.
Joe Biden during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci / AP Newsroom)
The Biden administration might also restrict the leasing of cloud services to Chinese AI companies, but will likely wait until after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to the country in early July, sources told the Journal.
Biden is also considering an executive order limiting U.S. investment in China and other geopolitical rivals, the report said.
Reuters contributed to this report.