U.S. to impose AI chip sanctions; Taiwan faces no restrictions

Washington, Jan. 13 (CNA) The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) announced on Monday that it will impose new artificial intelligence chip sales sanctions, with Taiwan among the United States' 18 allies not to face restrictions.

Before President Joe Biden steps down next week, his administration released the Interim Final Rule on Artificial intelligence Diffusion, which will allow 120 days for the public to provide comments, and a year for industries to adjust to meet the security requirements in the new rules.

This new regulation serves key U.S. national security and foreign policy interests and supports the Biden-Harris administration's broader strategy to cultivate a secure and trusted technology ecosystem for the responsible use and diffusion of AI, the DOC said in a statement.

According to a senior administration official, the U.S. and its 18 allies, including Taiwan are categorized in the first tier, which does not create new restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips.

For the countries in the first tier, the official said, the new rule also does not restrict exports of the most powerful closed-weight frontier AI models that are stored securely.

The official added that entities that meet high security and trust standards and are headquartered in close allies and partners can obtain highly trusted "Universal Verified End User" (UVEU) status.

The status will allow them to place up to 7 percent of their global AI computational capacity in countries around the world, which is expected to strengthen U.S. and allied global leadership while keeping frontier training at home, the official said.

Other than Taiwan, the other 17 allies of the U.S. are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

A total of 22 countries are categorized in the third tier, including China, Hong Kong and Macau, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Syria, which are already subject to restrictions on export of advanced AI chips, the official said.

The new rule indicates that these countries are newly subject to restrictions on transfers of the most powerful closed-weight frontier AI models.

All countries not belonging to the first and second tier categories are grouped into tier two, the official said.

While many of the countries in the second tier are already subject to advanced AI chip license requirements, the rule will apply to advanced AI chip license requirements with all of these countries, but exempt the vast majority of trade, the official said.

"This policy will help build a trusted technology ecosystem around the world and allow us to protect against the national security risks associated with AI, while ensuring controls do not stifle innovation or US technological leadership," U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in the statement.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in the statement that the U.S. has a national security responsibility to maintain and extend its leadership in AI technologies, and to ensure its AI development benefits people around the world.

"The rule both provides greater clarity to our international partners and to industry, and counters the serious circumvention and related national security risks posed by countries of concern and malicious actors who may seek to use the advanced American technologies against us," Sullivan said.