U.S. regulators have drafted rules that would require government approval before American AI chips can be shipped to any destination outside the United States, according to Bloomberg, which cited sources familiar with the discussions. The proposal would give the U.S. Department of Commerce broad authority over chip exports from companies including Nvidia and AMD.
A Commerce Department spokesperson confirmed internal discussions are underway but pushed back on characterizations of the proposal’s direction. “The Commerce Department is committed to promoting secure exports of the American tech stack,” the spokesperson said. “Today there was reporting that we were returning to the AI diffusion rule. We will not. It was burdensome, overreaching, and disastrous.”
How the Review Process Would Work
Under the drafted framework, foreign companies and governments seeking to purchase American AI chips would need Commerce Department approval before any transaction could proceed. The intensity of that review would scale with the size of the order. A smaller purchase by an overseas company might trigger a basic review, while a large-scale acquisition could require involvement from the buyer’s national government.
Nothing is final. The proposal could change substantially before any official ruling, and the Commerce Department’s statement signals the administration is still shaping its approach.
What is clear is that this would represent considerably more government oversight than the AI Diffusion rule President Joe Biden put in place. The Trump administration formally rescinded that regulation last May, less than a week before it was set to take effect.
Nvidia Already Feeling the Pressure
The administration’s approach to chip exports has been inconsistent. On Nvidia‘s potential sales to China, the White House reversed course multiple times before settling on a model that permits exports only when the Commerce Department can vet individual customers. That uncertainty cost Nvidia its Chinese customer base, and nearly a year later, those customers have not returned.
The pattern illustrates the core tension in this policy debate. Tighter controls give Washington more leverage over who accesses advanced AI hardware. But friction in the purchasing process pushes buyers to look elsewhere, particularly as chip manufacturers outside the U.S. continue developing more capable products.
The Risk to U.S. Market Position
If sourcing American chips becomes significantly harder, foreign companies and governments have incentive to diversify away from U.S. suppliers. That dynamic poses a real long-term risk to the American semiconductor industry’s dominant position in global AI markets.
AMD and Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
The drafted rules are the clearest picture yet of where the Trump administration’s semiconductor export policy is heading, even as the Commerce Department insists the final approach remains undecided. Given the administration’s track record on this issue, further revisions before any formal announcement seem likely.
This article is a curated summary based on third-party sources. Source: Read the original article
