Nvidia on Thursday criticized reported plans by President Joe Biden’s administration to impose new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips, saying the outgoing U.S. leader is enacting a last-minute policy to “pre-empt incoming President Trump.” “It shouldn’t be done,” he said.
Nvidia Vice President Ned Finkle said in an emailed statement: “We urge President Biden to continue to enact policies that will only harm the U.S. economy, set us back, and play into the hands of America’s enemies. I encourage them not to get ahead of President Trump.”
The U.S. Department of Commerce and the White House did not respond to Reuters requests for comment outside of normal business hours.
Reuters last month exclusively reported details on the Commerce Department’s plan to authorize global AI chip exports while preventing access by bad actors. The primary purpose of this restriction is to prevent AI from overextending China’s military capabilities.
Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that new export controls could be announced soon, effectively blocking groups of U.S. opponents from importing these chips and leaving the majority of the world’s countries without a single chip. He added that they will face limits on the total computing power they can put into the country.
Nvidia’s Finkle said the reported policy was disguised as an “anti-China move” and warned that extreme country caps would affect computers around the world and force the world to move to alternative technologies. .
“This last-minute Biden administration policy will leave a legacy that will be criticized by U.S. industry and the international community,” Finkle said.
