‘Haven’t blocked AI Chip exports to West Asia’: US Department of Commerce

The US Department of Commerce put out a statement saying that the Joe Biden-led administration has not blocked the sale of any AI chips to West Asian countries.

This statement comes in response to recent disclosures that export license requirements have been expanded for artificial intelligence chips from companies like NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

NVIDIA had revealed these new rules in a regulatory filing earlier in the week, and it was subsequently confirmed that AMD is also affected by the change as they too had received notifications.

Despite the comments from the Department of Commerce denying that they have blocked the sale of AI chips, they have not commented on whether specific requirements have been imposed on individual US companies.

As per what NVIDIA had reported earlier, new regulations stipulate that NVIDIA and other tech companies making AI chips must obtain licenses before selling its highest grade of AI silicon, their flagship chips to certain West Asian countries. It remains undisclosed whether these companies have applied for such licenses or if any have been approved or denied.

Typically, US officials impose export controls for national security reasons. While a similar move last year indicated an escalation of US efforts to restrict technology exports to China, the specific risks associated with exports to countries in West Asia do not become abundantly clear until one takes a look that most of them are working with China to develop their own Ai

It’s worth noting that many of the US restrictions on technology exports to China result in a blanket denial of all licenses.