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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
RSS