The Biden administration is attempting to stop China from developing a technology that is crucial to the geopolitical and economic future of the nation.
As part of its effort to stop China from developing artificial intelligence capabilities, the US is reportedly considering restricting that country’s access to cloud computing. This is according to a person familiar with the discussions.
The effort, which the Commerce Department has prioritised, is a continuation of the Biden administration’s efforts to tighten export restrictions placed on semiconductors in October. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters that are not yet public, said that officials are working to finalise the plan this summer, though significant details have not yet been decided.
The person said that the US is concerned that access to cloud services may give businesses and military of China the computing power required for AI models, avoiding the need to invest in data centres made up of computers and their semiconductor components, many of which are already covered by existing regulations. However, the use of cloud computing is more difficult to monitor than the export of semiconductors, making regulatory efforts more challenging.
The Commerce Department intends to tighten export controls, including on cloud services offered by Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc., according to a report published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. The agency and both businesses declined to respond to inquiries about that report.
The Biden administration is attempting to stop China from developing a technology that is crucial to the geopolitical and economic future of the nation.
According to the person, two criteria that set the threshold for the export controls put in place last year would be expanded by Commerce as part of the plan.
The source further stated that the proposal aims to further limit both the performance potential of chips and the capacity to connect chips together.
The US would modify export restrictions as part of the broader Commerce Department proposal, making it more difficult to sell some chips to China without a permit.
The A800 chip from Nvidia Corp., a US-based company that developed it after the earlier controls were announced, is one target of the action. The configuration of the product barely complies with these restrictions.
The technological conflict between the US and China is intensifying. Beijing put export restrictions on metals necessary for the chip, electric vehicle, and defense industries on Monday, demonstrating that it has the ability to respond to attempts by the US, Japan, and Europe to cut off Beijing from cutting-edge technology.