[News] Biden’s AI Chip Export Curbs in the Works: Key Points of Three-Tier System at a Glance

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The Biden administration’s plan of last-minute AI chip export curbs has triggered heated discussions. Notably, according to the reports from Bloomberg, The Register and Tom’s Hardware, in order to prevent advanced technology from falling into the hands of countries such as China and Russia, the new regulations would establish a three-tier system of chip trade limitations, in which allies like South Korea and Taiwan would reportedly be granted unrestricted access to American-designed AI chips.

According to the analysis of TrendForce, since December 2024, TSMC has halted shipments of AI chips to China at 7nm and below, adhering to criteria such as die size, computing transistor count, and the use of CoWoS or HBM technologies. While Samsung has not officially clarified its position, TrendForce anticipates that the company will comply if the U.S. government issues an official directive.

Below is a roundup of the rumored restrictions in detail, as well as the nations in categorization.

Tier 1

According to a Technews report, citing Bloomberg and The Register, the U.S. itself, as well as its 18 allied countries led by Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Taiwan, will have unhindered access to advanced technologies developed by U.S. companies.

However, it is important to mention that though companies from these countries are allowed to install some of their processors in Tier 2 countries, they are restricted from exceeding 7% of their capacity in any individual Tier 2 country, as noted by the reports.

In addition, U.S.-based companies must reportedly ensure that at least half of their computing power stays within the country.

Tier 2

The reports suggest that most countries around the world, potentially including those in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Mexico, and Latin America, will reportedly face certain computational restrictions on the advanced technologies they can procure.

Bloomberg reports that the limits include a cap of about 50,000 GPUs between 2025 and 2027, though it’s unclear which GPUs are included.

Tier 3

On the other hand, countries including China, Russia, Belarus, Iran, Macau, and other nations listed under U.S. arms embargoes will reportedly be completely prohibited from acquiring advanced technologies provided by the U.S.

The Tom’s Hardware report also indicates that in addition to specific hardware restrictions on chips, this round of AI chip tightening may also impose further limits on the export of closed AI model weights. This means that powerful AI models cannot be hosted in third-tier countries, and hosting these models in second-tier countries will only be allowed if safety standards are met.

Read more

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