TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Biden administration on Monday announced that it will exempt Taiwan and other select countries from new proposed restrictions on advanced AI chips.
The White House said AI chip exports will be subject to a three-tiered control system under its Interim Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion. Eighteen key partners listed under the first tier, including Taiwan, will not face restrictions, per CNA.
The list of first-tier countries includes Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, and the UK. A senior administration official was cited by CNA as saying that these countries with sound technology protection systems and technology ecosystems can purchase large quantities of AI chips from the US without any restrictions
Entities headquartered in first-tier countries that meet security standards can apply for “Universal Verified End User” status, according to the White House. With this status, they can deploy up to 7% of their AI computational capacity in other countries.
Tier three countries, which include China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Syria, and around 22 others, are subject to the strictest controls, according to the official. The US already prohibits exporting advanced AI chips to these nations, while the new rules extend controls to the most powerful closed-weight frontier AI models.
Second-tier countries must comply with security standards to acquire advanced AI chips. Most other nations fall under this tier, according to the official.
Entities in second-tier countries that meet security standards can apply for “National Verified End User” status, allowing them to purchase up to 320,000 advanced GPUs over two years, per the White House. Second-tier entities without this status can still purchase up to 50,000 GPUs per country.
Monday, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo 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.”
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan added, “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.”
The new rules have a 120-day public comment period, meaning that the incoming Trump administration can ultimately decide on whether to approve the rules. Sullivan told Bloomberg Monday he believed the Trump administration would likely retain the new limits on AI chip exports.
