After ‘China ban’, US government may add to Nvidia and AMD’s ‘problems’ by requiring companies to …

The US is considering another change to its chip import policy. A report claims that the US Department of Commerce’s new chip export proposal may require foreign governments to invest in US AI infrastructure to get large shipments of AI chips from Nvidia or AMD. The draft rule, under review, would introduce a tiered approval system based on chip computing power exported for AI data centres.A Financial Times report says companies buying higher volumes of advanced chips may face additional requirements, such as commitments from their governments to invest in US AI capacity. This could influence how chipmakers export hardware for large-scale AI systems.People familiar with the plan said the framework is intended to allow the US government to approve export arrangements similar to those agreed with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia last year.

In those cases, the US approved chip exports to companies including G42 and Humain after the countries pledged to invest in AI infrastructure in the United States.

What US officials said about the proposed chip export policy changes

A US official told the FT that “any rule that the administration issues will promote the American tech stack”, as the government considers new requirements for the export of advanced AI chips.The US Department of Commerce also noted that discussions were ongoing within the government about formalising arrangements similar to recent agreements in the Middle East. “We successfully advanced exports through our historic Middle East agreements, and there are ongoing internal government discussions about formalising that approach,” the department told FT.Apart from this, it also rejected suggestions that the administration was reviving the AI diffusion rule introduced during the final months of Joe Biden’s administration, which proposed export controls for advanced chips based on country risk. “Today, there was reporting that we were returning to the AI diffusion rule. We will not. It was burdensome, over-reaching and disastrous,” the US Commerce Department said.The proposal would establish a tiered approval process based on the number of chips a foreign company plans to buy from Nvidia or AMD. For higher-volume cases, the US government could require buyers to speak with officials before submitting an export license application, reflecting the new emphasis on foreign investment in US AI as part of the approval process.A person familiar with the discussions told FT that other agencies have been asked to respond to the proposal within a week. The rule would not affect existing restrictions on exports to countries like China, which have separate controls. Deliberations continue regarding Nvidia’s sales of H200 chips to China. Several months ago, US President Donald Trump told Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that export licences would be approved. As part of the arrangement, Nvidia agreed to remit 25% of H200 chip sales revenue from China to the US government.