The US is considering a new regulatory framework that could require foreign governments to invest in US AI infrastructure or provide security assurances to access large shipments of advanced chips
The United States is weighing a new regulatory framework for exporting advanced artificial intelligence chips that could require foreign governments to invest in American AI data centres or provide security guarantees before receiving large shipments, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The proposal, which remains under internal discussion and could change before being finalised, would mark the first major attempt to regulate the flow of AI chips to US allies and partners since President Donald Trump’s administration rescinded earlier “AI diffusion” rules introduced during the tenure of former President Joe Biden, the report said.
Under the draft framework, countries seeking to import 200,000 or more advanced AI chips may be required to commit to investments in US-based AI data centres or provide national security assurances to Washington, the report said. The move could give the Trump administration significant leverage to negotiate investment deals with foreign partners, aligning with the president’s broader push to expand domestic technology infrastructure.
The rules could represent a significant shift in US export policy. Biden-era controls were built on the premise that close allies should largely be exempt from restrictions on high-end chip exports. The proposed framework instead appears to apply licensing requirements more broadly, potentially covering even friendly nations.
However, the draft rules would not change restrictions on countries already blacklisted from receiving US AI chips, including Russia. Export limits targeting China also remain largely intact, although Beijing was given conditional approval in December to purchase certain AI chips from Nvidia, the world’s leading AI chip designer. Those shipments have since been delayed due to national security compliance requirements that could discourage China from proceeding with the purchases.
According to the document reviewed by Reuters, even relatively small installations of fewer than 1,000 chips could require export licences. To qualify for exemptions at that scale, exporters such as Nvidia or Advanced Micro Devices would need to monitor how the chips are used, while the recipient would have to deploy software preventing the chips from being linked into large clusters — a key configuration used to power advanced AI supercomputers.
Foreign entities seeking shipments of up to 100,000 chips would also have to provide government-to-government assurances regarding their use, according to the draft. The Trump administration has already imposed similar conditions on Saudi Arabia when approving purchases of advanced US chips.
Larger installations — up to 200,000 chips — could trigger site visits from US export control officials to verify compliance with security and usage requirements.
Experts say the proposal reflects Washington’s growing concern that advanced computing hardware could be diverted to adversaries or used to build powerful AI systems outside US oversight.
“The rule could help the US government address chip diversion to China and ensure a more secure buildout of the most powerful AI supercomputers,” said Saif Khan, a former national security official in the Biden administration who is now with the Institute for Progress.
However, Khan warned that the draft measures could also raise diplomatic concerns. “The licence requirements are overly broad, applying globally, raising concerns that the administration intends to use the controls as negotiation leverage with allies rather than purely for security,” he said.
The US Commerce Department confirmed on social media platform X that it was discussing new export rules but said they would not mirror what it described as the “burdensome, overreaching and disastrous” framework proposed during the Biden administration.
Instead, officials indicated that Washington may follow a model similar to agreements struck with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where both countries agreed to invest in US technology infrastructure in exchange for access to advanced American chips.
“The Commerce Department is committed to promoting secure exports of the American tech stack,” the department said, adding that internal discussions were underway on formalising this approach.
Notably, the draft rules do not address restrictions on so-called “model weights” — the critical parameters that determine how an AI system functions. Technology firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic treat these parameters as highly sensitive intellectual property and a key competitive advantage.
The Biden administration had attempted to restrict the export of model weights as part of efforts to ensure that the most advanced AI systems were developed and deployed in trusted environments. Those provisions are absent from the current draft.
End of Article
Leave a Reply