While the U.S. administration announced restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors to China, foreign media reports said that low-performance semiconductors, which were indirectly sold to China by semiconductor companies such as NVIDIA, will also be included in the sanctions.
Reuters quoted a U.S. government official on the 15th (local time) as saying, “The Biden administration will take measures to close loopholes that U.S. semiconductor companies have been able to sell to China indirectly as part of tightening export controls.”
Bloomberg News also cited sources on the same day and reported that the Biden administration will update its measures to restrict exports of semiconductors to China this month, which will include low-performance semiconductors that U.S. semiconductor companies have been selling indirectly.
The newspaper said the key to the move is to improve the loopholes of the existing system.
Reuters said, “The official declined to say which chips would be banned additionally,” but added, “The industry believes that Nvidia’s ‘H800’ is the semiconductor that the administration wants to block.”
When the U.S. government ordered the U.S. government to stop exporting “A100” and “H100” to China in September last year for security reasons, NVIDIA has made and exported “A800” and “H800” with 10 to 30% lower performance.
In June, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce will take new measures, including a ban on exports of low-performance semiconductors such as “A800,” as early as July, but the timing seems to have been delayed due to concerns in the semiconductor industry.
In addition to these measures, Reuters reported that the U.S. administration will also add measures to block access to U.S.-made AI semiconductors using subsidiaries or branches. However, chips for consumer products such as laptops are excluded from the new regulations.
HS HA
US ASIA JOURNAL
