Biden administration plans to reach China with wider curbs on U.S. chipmaking shipments

September 13, 2022: -The Biden administration plans in the coming month to wider curbs on U.S shipments to China of semiconductors made use for artificial intelligence and chipmaking tools, a few people familiar with the matter said.

The Commerce Department is intending to print new regulations based on restrictions communicated in letters to three U.S. companies KLA, Lam Research, and Applied Materials, the people state on the condition of anonymity. The plan for the recent rules has not been last reported.

The publicly acknowledged companies’ letters forbade them from exporting chipmaking equipment to Chinese factories that give advanced semiconductors sub-14 nanometer processes until the sellers get the Commerce Department licenses.

The rules would codify restrictions in Commerce Department letters sent to Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices in the previous month instructing them to halt shipments of several artificial intelligence computing chips to China unless they obtain licenses.

Some sources said the regulations would likely include additional actions against China. The restrictions could be changed and the rules published expectedly.

So-called “is informed” letters permit the Commerce Department to bypass lengthy rule-writing processes and quickly implement controls. Still, the notes only apply to the companies that receive them.

Turning the letters into rules would make their reach and subject other U.S. companies broad, which produces similar technology to the restrictions. The regulations could apply to companies that try to challenge Nvidia and AMD’s dominance in artificial intelligence chips.

Intel and startups like Cerebral Systems are targeting the same advanced computing markets. Intel said it closely monitors the situation, while Cerebras refused to comment.

One source said the rules could charge license requirements on shipments to China of products with targeted chips. Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Super Micro Computer create data center servers with Nvidia’s A100 chip.

A senior Commerce official has also refused to comment on the upcoming action but added, “As a general rule, we look to codify restrictions that are in is-informed letters with a regulatory change.”