The Biden administration is planning to broaden curbs on sales of chips and chipmaking tools to China made by a broad array of companies in the US.
The US Chamber of Commerce sent members a warning last week of coming restrictions from the US Commerce Department prior to mid-term elections in November.
“We are now hearing that members should expect a series of rules or perhaps an overarching rule prior to the mid-term election to codify the guidance in recently issued ‘is-informed’ letters to chip equipment and chip design companies,” the Chamber letter to members said. These so-called is-informed letters have already reached several US-based companies, such as Nvidia, AMD, KLA, Lam and Applied Materials.
Commerce recently informed Nvidia and AMD to halt shipment of some AI chips to China unless they obtain licenses. Part of the concern was that China could forward sophisticated chips to Russia for use in the invasion of Ukraine.
RELATED: Export rule clobbers Nvidia, AMD stock in US-China tension
Reuters reported the broadening of rules could follow restrictions Commerce already placed on KLA, Lam Research and Applied Materials, preventing them from selling tools to produce sub -14nm process chips. The rules would also codify restrictions in letters sent to Nvidia and AMD.
Also, companies that make servers could affected, such as Dell, HPE and Super Micro, since their servers contain Nvidia’s A100 processor, Reuters said.
The US also wants its allies to enact similar policies restricting sales to China.