Trump administration rescinds curbs on AI chip exports to foreign markets

NEW YORK (AP) — After a week of promises to alter the policy, the U.S. Department of Commerce has rescinded a Biden-era rule due to take effect Thursday that placed limits on the number of artificial intelligence chips that could be exported to certain international markets without federal approval.

“These new requirements would have stifled American innovation and saddled companies with burdensome new regulatory requirements,” the Commerce Department stated in its guidance.

The Biden administration had established the export framework in an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries. While the United States had already restricted exports to adversaries such as China and Russia, some of those controls had loopholes and the rule would have set limits on a much broader group of countries.

Commerce Undersecretary Jeffery Kessler said Tuesday that the Trump administration work to replace the now-rescinded rule.

“The Trump Administration will pursue a bold, inclusive strategy to American AI technology with trusted foreign countries around the world, while keeping the technology out of the hands of our adversaries.”