WASHINGTON (CN) — The Biden administration plans to expand export restrictions to hinder China’s ability to access or manufacture advanced computer chips vital to the development of artificial intelligence technology.
The Department of Commerce on Tuesday released a draft proposal focused on advanced chips, which are the brains of computing systems and advanced artificial intelligence applications.
The announcement is an expansion of export controls that were launched in 2022 to counter potential military use of the chips in the development of hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence.
“These revisions protect U.S. national security interests by further restricting China’s ability to obtain critical technologies to modernize its military capabilities in ways that threaten the national security interests of the United States and its allies,” the proposal says.
Washington wants to limit China’s access to critical technologies needed for the development of AI, such as semiconductors and advanced chips. Specifically, the proposal seeks to limit advancements in military uses of AI, but will likely have commercial impacts in other sectors including consumer electronics, health care and education.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order in August to block and regulate high-tech U.S.-based investments going toward China.
The regulations cast a broad net to prevent China from accessing the targeted technology. They would prohibit purchases of a larger number of smaller chips that can be combined into more powerful ones. Companies would also face stricter regulations on exports to countries that could let the technology travel on to China, specifically those under a U.S. arms embargo.
On Monday, Mao Ning, spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, criticized U.S. efforts to block chip exports to the country.
“The U.S. needs to stop politicizing and weaponizing trade and tech issues and stop destabilizing global industrial and supply chains,” she said. “We will closely follow the developments and firmly safeguard our rights and interests.”
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Beijing asked her to ease the restrictions during a trip to China in August.
“Of course, I said no,” Raimondo said at the time. “We don’t negotiate on matters of national security.”
The Commerce Department released an interim final rule on Tuesday. However, no proposal has been published in the Federal Register as of Tuesday evening. It requires a mandatory public comment period that cannot begin until it is published.
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