On Monday, the Biden administration unveiled sweeping restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips and related technologies as President Joe Biden prepares to leave office.
Announced just days before Donald Trump’s transition as the President, the “Interim Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion” seeks to maintain U.S. dominance in AI while preventing adversaries such as from exploiting advanced systems for malicious purposes.
“To enhance U.S. national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world’s AI runs on American rails,” according to a statment from the White House.
The restrictions impose caps on the number of advanced graphics processing units and other AI-related technologies that can be exported to most countries.
What You Need to Know About Nvidia's AI Announcements at CES 2025
After a record-breaking 2024, Nvidia is kicking off 2025 with a bang, unveiling a slate of products that could solidify its dominance in the fields of AI development and gaming. CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at CES in Las Vegas to showcase new hardware and software offerings that span everything from personal AI supercomputers to next-generation gaming cards. Nvidia's biggest announcement: Project DIGITS, a $3,000 personal AI supercomputer that packs a petaflop of computing power into a deskt...
While the U.S. and 18 of its closest allies, including the UK and Japan, are exempt, countries like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea remain under strict bans.
The regulations also introduce new licensing requirements for exports to over 120 nations, with provisions for foreign governments to sign agreements for eased restrictions.
Entities meeting rigorous security standards can gain special statuses, such as Universal Verified End User (UVEU) or National Verified End User (NVEU), allowing them to benefit from advanced GPUs and scale AI capabilities responsibly.
UVEU entities can allocate up to 7% of their global AI capacity outside close allies, while NVEU entities can purchase GPUs equivalent to 320,000 advanced units over two years.
Smaller, low-risk chip orders—often used by universities and research institutions—will bypass the licensing process entirely.
AI Advocates See Trump Re-election as Industry Boost but Urge Caution on Policy
Supporters of artificial intelligence are welcoming Donald Trump's re-election as a potential boost for the industry, though careful consideration on policy direction is essential, they say. Trump’s win is “a positive thing” for the artificial intelligence business, said Ray Wu, managing partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Alumni Ventures, noting that promoting AI innovation requires a lenient regulatory approach. “This industry is still very young,” Wu said. “Having clear guidelines...
Pushback
The announcement has drawn sharp criticism from the tech industry.
Chipmaker giant Nvidia criticized the policy as “unprecedented and misguided,” warning that it could undermine U.S. innovation and global competitiveness.
“While cloaked in the guise of an ‘anti-China’ measure, these rules would do nothing to enhance U.S. security,” Nvidia’s president of government affairs, Ned Finkle, said in a statement.
Currently, Nvidia sells AI chips to China, but they are scaled-down versions designed to comply with U.S. export restrictions imposed in 2022.
These chips with reduced computational power are produced to meet demand in the Chinese market without breaching U.S. security policies.
US Treasury Issues Sanctions Over North Korean Crypto Money Laundering
North Korea’s government has been caught red handed—again. That’s according to the feds, who today announced that they have sanctioned two individuals tied to a crypto money laundering network with alleged ties to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In a Tuesday statement, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said it had sanctioned Lu Huaying and Zhang Jian for allegedly laundering digital assets to fund the already heavily sanctioned government in Pyongyang....
The new rule also caps chip exports to other non-allied nations at 50,000 GPUs per country, ensuring that U.S. technology supports legitimate uses, such as healthcare and education, without enabling adversaries.
Nations that align their AI and export control policies with the U.S. can double their chip caps via government-to-government agreements under the new rules.
The rules are set to take effect mid-May, providing time for adjustments under Trump’s leadership following his inauguration on January 20.
“We hope that the next administration takes full advantage of those 120 days to listen to experts, industry, industry players, partner countries, consider their input, and I fully expect the next administration may make changes as a result of that input,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
Generally Intelligent Newsletter
