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Microsoft President Brad Smith in 2019. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)
Microsoft urged the Trump administration to change Biden-era limits on chip exports, warning that provisions of the regulations could give China an advantage in the global AI race if allowed to remain in effect.
In a post Thursday morning, Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote that the Biden administration’s interim final AI Diffusion Rule “puts many important U.S. allies and partners in a Tier Two category and imposes quantitative limits on the ability of American tech companies to build and expand AI datacenters in their countries.”
Examples cited by Smith include Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, where Microsoft and other large tech companies have major data centers.
“The unintended consequence of this approach is to encourage Tier Two countries to look elsewhere for AI infrastructure and services,” Smith wrote. “And it’s obvious where they will be forced to turn. If left unchanged, the Diffusion Rule will become a gift to China’s rapidly expanding AI sector.”
He drew parallels to the manner in which China was able to spread its 5G technology throughout the world, raising security concerns for the U.S. and its allies.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, reported that the Trump administration is considering changes to the rule.
Nvidia, the leading AI chipmaker, previously spoke out against the rules, saying they would “weaken America’s global competitiveness, undermining the innovation that has kept the U.S. ahead.”
