ICT Industry Body Presses Biden Administration to Drop Planned Further AI Ch...

TMTPOST -- A technology industry body is pressing the U.S. president Joe Biden’s administration to drop a plan to impose further export curbs on artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

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The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a global trade association that represents companies from the information and communications technology (ICT) industry like Microsoft Corporation, Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com. Inc., urged the U.S. government not to issue a rule that would restrict global access to AI chips, warning the restrictions would risk the United States’ ceding leadership in the sector to other countries like China.

The ITI said in the rule would place arbitrary constraints on U.S. companies' ability to sell computing systems overseas and cede the global market to competitors, Reuters reported, noting the rule could be released as soon as Friday.

ITI CEO Jason Oxman criticized the administration's "insistence" on publishing the rule in the final days of Joe Biden's presidency, the reported cited a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Tuesday. "Rushing a consequential and complex rule to completion could have significant adverse consequences," Oxman said in the letter.

Neither the U.S. Commerce Department nor the White House have responded to requests for comment. Reuters said industry opposition to the upcoming rule has become increasingly blunt and public.

"The main reason behind such opposition is that even during the last days, the Biden administration still plans to issue such measures, including restrictions on key industries related to chips and their applications. This in essence lays a landmine for US companies," Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The Biden administration plans to issue regulation as early as Friday with an additional round of curbs on AI chip exports from American giants like Nvidia Corporation, Bloomberg quoted people with knowledge of the matter on Wednesday. It was reported the U.S. government wants restrict the sale of AI chips used in data centers on both a country and company basis, with the goal of concentrating AI development in friendly nations and getting businesses around the world to align with American standards.

The regulations represent an expansion of semiconductor caps to most of the world as it will create three tiers of chip trade restrictions, according to the report. A small number of U.S. allies, at the top level, would maintain essentially unmitigated access to American chips, while a group of alleged adversaries would be effectively blocked from importing the chips, per the report. And other countries, the vast majority of the world have to be reportedly subject to limits on the total computing power that can go to one country.

Reuters' sources said last month the U.S. government will unveil a scheme that will empower companies like Google and Microsoft to act as gatekeepers worldwide for highly sought-after access to AI chips. Strict requirements under the scheme will require these companies to report key information to the U.S. government, block Chinese access to AI chips and grant permit to offer AI capabilities in the cloud beyond the U.S. without a license, according to the sources.

It was reported companies without the gatekeeper status will have to compete for a license to import a smaller number of high-end Nvidia and AMD AI chips in each country, but 19 allied countries and regions including Netherlands, Japan and Taiwan will be granted the exemption, thus boasting unlimited access to AI chips or the capability they provide.