U.S. Expands Export Restrictions On Nvidia And AMD AI Chips Beyond China To The Middle East

The United States has extended its restrictions on the export of advanced artificial intelligence chips produced by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to regions beyond China, including select Middle Eastern countries, according to reports.

Nvidia disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that the limitations would impact its A100 and H100 chips designed to accelerate machine-learning tasks but asserted that these curbs would not have an “immediate material impact” on the company’s financial results.

Similarly, AMD received an informed letter detailing similar restrictions, although insiders suggest this move would not materially impact its revenue.

Export controls are typically imposed by U.S. officials on grounds of national security. Last year, a similar move signaled an escalation in the U.S. clampdown on China’s technological capabilities.

Also Read: Nvidia Achieves Record Sales As Demand for AI Chips Skyrockets

However, it remains unclear what risks exporting to the Middle East poses.

Nvidia released a separate statement emphasizing that the new licensing requirement “doesn’t affect a meaningful portion of our revenue” and confirmed it was working with the U.S. government to address the matter.

The U.S. Commerce Department, which administers export licensing requirements, stated that it had not blocked chip sales to the Middle East but declined to comment on whether it had imposed new requirements on specific U.S. companies.

In September of the previous year, AMD disclosed new license requirements that would halt exports of its MI250 artificial intelligence chips to China.

Since then, Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have all announced plans to create less potent AI chips that can be exported to the Chinese market.

Nvidia did not specify the Middle Eastern countries affected by the new restrictions in its filing dated August 28.

The majority of the company’s $13.5 billion in sales for the fiscal quarter ended July 30 came from the United States, China, and Taiwan. Approximately 13.9% of sales were attributed to all other countries combined, with no specific revenue breakdown provided for the Middle East.

This development is seen in the context of rising tensions surrounding Taiwan, where chips for Nvidia and other major chip firms are manufactured.

In October 2022, the Biden administration introduced a set of export controls, including measures to cut off China from certain semiconductor chips manufactured anywhere in the world using U.S. equipment, greatly expanding Washington’s influence in an effort to slow Beijing’s technological and military advances. Japan and the Netherlands subsequently implemented similar rules earlier this year.

The restriction on American AI chips from companies like Nvidia and AMD is expected to hinder Chinese organizations’ ability to cost-effectively perform advanced computing tasks used in areas such as image and speech recognition, which have applications ranging from consumer technology to military purposes.

This situation highlights the global implications of export controls on advanced technologies and their potential to influence geopolitics and international trade.