Bloomberg: "U.S. Commerce Department Draft Regulations"
Export restrictions on AI chips to Thailand and Malaysia under review
Aimed at blocking Nvidia chip smuggling to China
Trump administration plans to ease global AI controls, maintain China restrictions
Bloomberg reported on July 4 (local time) that the U.S. government plans to restrict exports to neighboring countries Thailand and Malaysia in order to block the smuggling of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor chips into China.
Citing sources, Bloomberg reported that a draft of the regulations being pursued by the U.S. Department of Commerce includes measures to block routes through which advanced AI chips from Nvidia could be exported to China via Thailand and Malaysia, due to concerns about potential circumvention. However, the report added that these regulations have not been finalized and may be subject to change.
Additionally, according to Bloomberg's sources, the Donald Trump administration plans to officially lift the global AI export controls that have been in place since the previous Joe Biden administration, opting instead to impose export restrictions specifically on these two countries. The "AI Proliferation Framework," which was implemented in January this year during the final months of the Biden administration, classified countries worldwide as allies and partners, general countries, and countries of concern such as China, Russia, and North Korea, and imposed differentiated controls on AI semiconductor exports accordingly.
However, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration will continue to maintain the semiconductor restrictions on China, which were first imposed in 2022 and have since been strengthened several times, as well as the controls applied to over 40 countries since the following year.
In May, the U.S. Department of Commerce stated that "the Biden administration's AI rules are overly complex and bureaucratic and will hinder American innovation," and announced plans to introduce simpler regulations to replace them.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
