A rule issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce in January, one week before the end of the presidency of former President Joe Biden called the Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion which limits access to AI chips and divides the world into three tiers might be scrapped by the Trump Administration and possibly access to AI chips used as a tool in negotiations replacing the rule with government to government agreements.
Under the current Framework orders under 1700 of NVIDIA‘s H100 chips do not count under country caps and only require the government to be notified, the Trump Administration is considering making that number 500 chips.
Oracle and NVIDIA both spoke against the rule when it was introduced in January, Companies and Countries must comply with the Framework for Artificial Intelligence Diffusion starting on May 15.
Under Biden’s rule countries are divided into three tiers, seventeen countries and Taiwan can order unlimited chips, 120 other countries are in the second tier which has limits on how many AI chips they can get in the form of a cap, and the third tier is made of countries like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, which are blocked from getting any chips.
Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary during the first Trump administration said “There are some voices pushing for the elimination of the tiers” and government to government agreements were one alternative.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a conference in March that he wants the AI chips export controls included in trade negotiations.
