During meetings in Washington, Intel Corp’s Pat Gelsinger, Nvidia Corp’s Jensen Huang and Qualcomm Inc’s Cristiano Amon warned that export controls risk harming US leadership of the industry. The Biden officials listened to the presentations but d...
By Bloomberg |
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The chip industry is trying to navigate increasing tensions between China and the US.
WASHINGTON: Leaders of the largest US chipmakers told Biden officials that the administration should study the impact of restrictions on exports to China and pause before implementing new ones, according to people familiar with their discussions.
During meetings in Washington, Intel Corp’s Pat Gelsinger, Nvidia Corp’s Jensen Huang and Qualcomm Inc’s Cristiano Amon warned that export controls risk harming US leadership of the industry. The Biden officials listened to the presentations but didn’t make any commitments, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private.
The chip industry is trying to navigate increasing tensions between China and the US. Companies are being forced to curb shipments to their largest market by Washington, which has cited national security concerns about the Asian nation acquiring certain capabilities.
One of the executives against current rules restricting the export of artificial intelligence hardware to China, saying the policy hasn’t achieved the intended outcome of slowing China’s AI development.
The Biden team has been exploring ways to further tighten existing curbs — for example, by targeting chips made by Nvidia specifically for the China market, according to people familiar with the matter. In addition to the US restrictions, US chipmakers such as Micron Technology Inc have faced actions by Beijing that have hurt their ability to do business in the country.
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US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday he agreed with the executives that the approach needs to be a “small yard, high fence” — effective but limited.
He defended the administration’s actions to date as just that, saying the measures were targeted and had virtually no impact on US-China trade for most chips.
“The vast majority of sales of chips designed by the United States to China has continued unabated,” he said at the Aspen Security Forum. He hinted that more curbs could follow but that they would only be implemented after robust discussion with the affected companies.
“We are going to continue to look at very targeted, very specific restrictions on technology with national security and military applications and make judgments rigorously, carefully, methodically — and, yes, in deep consultation with our private sector,” he said.
