The administration of US President Joe Biden plans to tighten export controls announced in October last year to restrict sales of some artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, amid growing concerns about selling the technology to a key strategic competitor, people familiar with the matter said.
Under the US Department of Commerce proposal, expected next month, Washington would revise export controls to make it harder to sell some chips to China without a license.
The move is aimed in part at Nvidia Corp’s A800 chip, which the US-based company designed after the earlier controls were announced.
The product’s configuration comes just within those limits.
Nvidia chief financial officer Colette Kress on Wednesday said that the company is aware of the reports on tighter restrictions.
Strong overall demand for its products means that there would be no material impact on the company’s earnings if such rules are introduced, Kress said at an online investor event.
China represents about 20 to 25 percent of Nvidia’s data center revenue, and — in the long term — any ban on exports to that country would represent a loss of opportunity, she said.
Plans for tighter controls were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.
In a briefing on Wednesday, Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu (劉鵬宇) cited the Biden administration’s moves in the semiconductor industry as an example of a lack of respect that has prevented Washington and Beijing from discussing other issues.
“Communication first requires mutual respect and communication must deliver results,” Liu said. “We know that there are disputes in the semiconductor industry, but we haven’t seen any positive initiatives from the US side to say: ‘OK, how about we have communication on this issue?’”
After sliding early in the session, Nvidia shares recouped much of their losses on Wednesday.
The stock was down about 1.8 percent at the close in New York.
It was not clear whether the announcement would include an extension of general licenses given to Taiwanese and South Korean companies.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc in October last year won a one-year reprieve from the restrictions and have asked the White House to extend them by at least another year.
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