Bloomberg published an article Jan. 8 which reports that the Biden Administration is planning to announce one final round of major restrictions on American semiconductor sales to countries around the world before he leaves office. The move specifically targets artificial intelligence chips, and is reportedly aimed at “concentrating AI development in friendly nations and getting businesses around the world to align with American standards,” Bloomberg quotes unnamed sources. The main targets for restriction are Russia and China, though there is a wide swath of other countries that will also be affected.
The regulation, named “Export Control Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion,” would create three tiers. A small group of close U.S. allies would retain full access to the U.S. chips. On the other end, so-called adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran will be effectively blocked from importing the chips. In the third group, the remaining majority of the world would face limits on their purchases from the U.S. Bloomberg’s article includes a large map with the world almost comically divided into three categories according to the Biden Administration’s definition of “friendly nations.”
