After China, US curbs AI chip exports from NVIDIA and AMD to West Asian countries

The US has imposed a restriction on the exports of sophisticated NVIDIA andAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) artificial intelligence (AI) chips to some countries in West Asia (Middle East), according to a Reuters report.After imposing a ban on China, West Asia has become the new target spot for the Biden administration.

According to a regulatory filing by NVIDIA, its state-of-the-art A100 and H100 chips, designed to speed upmachine-learning tasks, have been put on the 'no-export' list.

"During the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, the USG (US government) informed us of an additional licensing requirement for a subset of A100 and H100 products destined to certain customers and other regions, including some countries in the Middle East," Nvidia said in a filing dated August 28.

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The report stated that AMD also received a similar letter, informing about the restrictions. However, both companies have stated that the restrictions will have no "immediate material impact" on the revenue.

Usually, Washington imposes export controls for national security reasons. However, it wasn't immediately clear what risks were posed by exports to West Asia.

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China imposes sanctions

Notably, last month,China, much to the chagrin of the US, decided to impose export controls on two rare elementsessential for the manufacturing of semiconductors.

Starting earlier this month,exports of gallium and germanium, among several other industrial compounds have been subject to restrictions.China’s Ministry of Commerce and Administration of Customs took the decision, laying it out that the exporters will have to seek special approval from the State Council, China's cabinet, for the listed items.

Why the restrictions?

The chip wars between the two nations began under the tenure of former president Donald Trump when his administration banned suppliers from selling chips made using US technology to tech giant Huawei without a special license.

For years, the US led the technology battle with China. However, the scales have recently tipped in Beijing's favour. According to a study presented by the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), the US could lose the tech competition to China if it does not take action on the 5G, AI, and microchip core fronts.

The report added that the tech race would be going through its critical phase in the 2025-2030 period. During this window, Beijing might be able to edge out the USA if the current trend continues.

(With inputs from agencies)

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