The U.S. is planning new export controls to restrict sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips to certain parts of the world in a bid to further limit China’s ability to access them, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 13. The rules, which could reportedly come this month, may place caps on shipments of AI chips to certain countries for use in large computing facilities, including nations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Close U.S. allies would not be affected, the report said. The Biden administration recently sent letters to major chipmakers informing them about some of the restrictions.
The Bureau of Industry and Security has completed a round of interagency review for a final rule that would make certain changes to U.S. export controls based on recent decisions made at the multilateral Australia Group. BIS sent the rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Nov. 22 (see 2411250004), and the review was completed Dec. 12.
The U.K. published its latest export control licensing data this week, detailing the number of licenses it approved, rejected, revoked and took actions for between April 1 and June 30. The data also includes information on the number of standard and open export licenses it issued during that time frame, the value of the goods shipped under those licenses, information on end-user destinations and more.
The multilateral Wassenaar Arrangement this month posted a summary of export control changes made during the group’s Dec. 4-5 plenary meeting in Austria, covering editorial changes, clarifications and updated control parameters for various categories under its list of dual-use goods and technologies. Wassenaar’s plenary chair, held this year by Italy, said member states adopted new controls involving suborbital spacecraft and their components as well as technologies used to make metal alloy powders for “high-performance” 3D printing of dual-use technologies. The group also agreed to clarify controls over systems for submersible vehicles, directed energy weapons, epitaxy-covered substrates for semiconductor manufacturing and more.
The U.K. released new data on Israel-related export licenses this week, about three months after the U.K. suspended a range of licenses for Israel over concerns they were being used to ship items for the Israeli military in Gaza (see 2409030023).
The Bureau of Industry and Security is crafting a new interim final rule titled “Export Control Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion.” BIS sent the rule for interagency review on Dec. 9. The agency didn’t release more information.
The U.S. and Latvian governments last week gathered officials from the U.K., Canada, the EU and Ukraine to discuss export controls and sanctions in Latvia, including how those measures are affecting Russia, the Latvian government said in a news release.
The Biden administration, which in January paused pending decisions on liquefied natural gas exports to allow it to review criteria for approving LNG export applications, plans to release the results of its study in “mid-December,” an Energy Department official said Dec. 4.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan this week called for a rethink of strategic technology controls and suggested that the incoming Trump administration look to build on the Biden administration's export control modernization efforts.
One day after the U.S. published a new set of semiconductor-related export controls aimed at China (see 2412020016), Beijing announced a ban on certain key critical minerals and other dual-use items being shipped to the U.S. for military uses.