The Biden administration has announced on Monday new curbs on exporting chips for artificial intelligence, which in its final push to block the free flow of cutting-edge technologies to China, Russia and other countries deemed of concern will be subjected to national security measures.
Just a week before its term ends, the administration released an interim final rule, under which no chip sale restrictions will apply to 20 key US allies and partners, including South Korea, while for many other countries, it sets up a cap for the amount of computational power they can purchase.
"This policy will help build a trusted technology ecosystem around the world and allow us to protect against the national security risks associated with AI, while ensuring controls do not stifle innovation or US technological leadership," Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said.
It is made up of 20 allies and partners like Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany, France and New Zealand. Entities based in those countries meeting high standards for security and trust can earn the "universal verified end user (UVEU)" status according to Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).
This is also the status which allows the entities to place up to 7 per cent of their global AI computational capacity--likely amounting to hundreds of thousands of chips--in countries around the world.
Entities that do not have the verified end user status and are outside of close US allies can still buy significant amounts of computing power -- up to the equivalent of 50,000 advanced graphics processing units (GPUs). The chip cap can double to 100,000 GPUs if an agreement is signed to align with US export and other standards, Yonhap news agency reported.
Entities that fulfill the security requirements and are headquartered in any location that is not a country of concern can apply for the "national verified end user" status, which will allow them to buy computational power equivalent to up to 320,000 GPUs over the next two years.
Chip orders with combined computing power of around 1,700 advanced GPUs are not subject to a license and do not come under national chip caps. Most of the chip orders fall in this category and include those placed by universities and medical institutions, according to the BIS.
The rule, it said, continues to bar advanced semiconductors sold abroad from reaching China, Russia and other countries of concern but still allows for access for general-purpose applications, from telecommunications to banking.
"The rule both provides greater clarity to our international partners and to industry, and counters the serious circumvention and related national security risks posed by countries of concern and malicious actors who may seek to use the advanced American technologies against us," National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
US AI chipmakers are said to be against the rule, since it might hamper their business of sending their products overseas at a time when there is rising demand for AI applications around the world.
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