The US government plans to implement a new export control to prevent Chinese companies from acquiring advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips through third-party countries, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Thursday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
The measure, expected to be finalized by the end of December, will target the global shipment of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, essential for AI model training, to close existing loopholes in current regulations. However, the report also states that the rule has just been drafted with inputs from US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
The report comes as trade war rhetoric has increased in recent months following Donald Trump's election victory. The president-elect has stated that he plans to toughen his stance against China to increase US competitiveness. On the other side, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) recently opened a probe into Nvidia Corporation's business practices over its alleged violations of that country's anti-monopoly regulations.