The Biden administration's new rules aimed at limiting China's access to U.S. artificial intelligence chips also offer a potential lifeline to Nvidia, Intel, and AMD
The U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security is open to input from the semiconductor industry on ways to continue supplying AI chips to China for small and medium-sized systems
The rules are designed to prevent China from using American chips to build supercomputers for military purposes and technologies similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT
U.S. officials want to prevent systems with up to 256 AI chips from being combined into supercomputers, seeking a "tamperproof" solution
Nvidia, Intel, and AMD have not commented on the rules, and Nvidia's shares closed down after their announcement
The new rules also restrict Chinese startups, Moore Threads and Biren, founded by Nvidia veterans, from using cutting-edge chipmaking technology
This limitation may make Nvidia the best legal option for Chinese buyers
The rules target China's chip manufacturers by restricting the export of advanced chipmaking equipment containing American parts, specifically, immersion deep ultraviolet lithography machines
These machines are not produced by American toolmakers but by Japan's Nikon and the Netherlands' ASML
The new rules narrow down the specific technologies and techniques targeted in the restrictions, allowing toolmakers to sell equipment for older chips without violating government regulations