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U.S. Considers New Curbs on AI Chip Exports to China

Restrictions come amid concerns that China could use AI chips from Nvidia and others for weapon development and hacking限制出台之际,人们担心中国可能会使用英伟达和其他公司的人工智能芯片进行武器开发和黑客攻击。

Updated June 27, 2023 6:21 pm ET东部时间 2023 年 6 月 27 日下午 6:21 更新
 
An Nvidia artificial intelligence supercomputing graphics processing unit. PHOTO: I-HWA CHENG/BLOOMBERG NEWS英伟达人工智能超级计算图形处理单元。图片来源:郑一华/彭博新闻社
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The Biden administration is considering new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips to China, as concerns rise over the power of the technology in the hands of U.S. rivals, according to people familiar with the situation.据知情人士透露,拜登政府正在考虑对向中国出口人工智能芯片施加新的限制,因为人们对美国竞争对手手中的技术力量的担忧加剧。
 
The Commerce Department could move as soon as early next month to stop the shipments of chips made by Nvidia and other chip makers to customers in China and other countries of concern without first obtaining a license, the people said. 知情人士说,商务部最早可能在下个月初采取行动,停止向中国和其他受关注国家的客户运送英伟达和其他芯片制造商制造的芯片,而无需首先获得许可证。
 
The action would be part of final rules codifying and expanding the export control measures announced in October, some of the people said.一些人说,该行动将成为编纂和扩大10月宣布的出口管制措施的最终规则的一部分。
The Commerce Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 美国商务部没有立即回应置评请求。
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE 您可能还喜欢4:07Paused2:30/5:40TAP FOR SOUNDChip maker Nvidia broke into the exclusive club of companies that have a $1 trillion market cap. WSJ’s Asa Fitch breaks down how Nvidia got there—and why AI is fueling the company’s rapid growth. Photo illustration: Annie Zhao芯片制造商英伟达(Nvidia)闯入了市值为1万亿美元的独家俱乐部。《华尔街日报》的阿萨·惠誉(Asa Fitch)分析了英伟达是如何到达那里的,以及为什么人工智能正在推动公司的快速增长。图解:赵安妮
 
The move could further crimp China’s ability to build its AI capabilities after restrictions last year that cut off the most advanced AI chips made by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.此举可能会进一步削弱中国建立其人工智能能力的能力,因为去年的限制切断了英伟达和先进微设备公司制造的最先进的人工智能芯片。
 
Nvidia responded to that move by making a version of its AI chips for the Chinese market called the A800 that fell below performance thresholds outlined by the Commerce Department. That chip replaced the A100, which is widely used in data centers to do AI computations.英伟达(Nvidia)通过为中国市场制造一款名为A800的AI芯片来回应这一举动,该芯片低于商务部概述的性能阈值。该芯片取代了A100,后者广泛用于数据中心进行AI计算。
 
The new restrictions being contemplated by the department would ban the sale of even A800 chips without a license, according to the people familiar with the matter. 据知情人士透露,该部门正在考虑的新限制将禁止在没有许可证的情况下销售A800芯片。
 
Nvidia declined to comment, and AMD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 英伟达拒绝置评,AMD也没有立即回应置评请求。
The administration is also considering restricting leasing of cloud services to Chinese AI companies, which have used such arrangements to skirt the export bans on advanced chips, some of the people familiar with the discussions say. 一些知情人士表示,政府还在考虑限制向中国人工智能公司租赁云服务,这些公司利用这种安排来规避对先进芯片的出口禁令。
 
The timing of the rule’s rollout is still uncertain, as chip makers continue to push the administration to forgo or ease the new restrictions. The administration is likely to wait until after a visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in early July to avoid angering Beijing, according to a source familiar with the situation. 该规则推出的时间仍不确定,因为芯片制造商继续推动政府放弃或放宽新的限制。据知情人士透露,政府可能会等到财政部长珍妮特·耶伦(Janet Yellen)于7月初访问中国之后,以避免激怒北京。
 
The discussions follow the rise of so-called generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which became a cultural phenomenon only after the first set of restrictions went into place last year. 这些讨论是在OpenAI的ChatGPT等所谓的生成性AI工具兴起之后进行的,这些工具仅在去年第一批限制实施后才成为一种文化现象。
U.S. officials and policy makers increasingly see AI through a national-security lens. Weapons infused with AI could give U.S. rivals a battlefield advantage, and AI tools could be used to create chemical weapons or produce malicious computer code.美国官员和政策制定者越来越多地通过国家安全的视角看待人工智能。注入人工智能的武器可以为美国竞争对手带来战场优势,人工智能工具可用于制造化学武器或产生恶意计算机代码。
Yet, protecting critical technologies while minimizing the impact on the operations of companies from the U.S. and allied nations is a huge challenge for the administration. “We are protecting our foundational technologies with a small yard and high fence,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in April.然而,保护关键技术,同时尽量减少对美国和盟国公司运营的影响,对政府来说是一个巨大的挑战。“我们正在用一个小院子和高围栏保护我们的基础技术,”国家安全顾问杰克沙利文在四月份表示。
The Commerce Department in October implemented a range of stringent export control measures on advanced semiconductors and the chip-making machinery, but it has not issued formal regulations to codify the rules. Since last fall, the administration has gathered comments from affected businesses and negotiated with the governments of allied nations to hammer out the final rules. 美国商务部在10月对先进半导体和芯片制造机械实施了一系列严格的出口管制措施,但尚未发布正式法规来编纂规则。自去年秋天以来,政府已经收集了受影响企业的意见,并与盟国政府进行了谈判,以制定最终规则。
The U.S. has persuaded the Netherlands and Japan—which have the world’s top manufacturers of chip-making equipment—to join the U.S.’s policy and has been working with them to unify the list of controlled items.美国已经说服荷兰和日本 - 拥有世界顶级芯片制造设备制造商 - 加入美国的政策,并一直在与他们合作统一受控物品清单。
The U.S. is also expected to allow chip makers from South Korea and Taiwan to continue operating and expanding their existing plants in China manufacturing less advanced, or legacy, chips. 预计美国还将允许韩国和台湾的芯片制造商继续运营和扩大其在中国的现有工厂,生产不太先进或遗留的芯片。
The Biden administration is also weighing an executive order that will restrict U.S. investment in China and other geopolitical rivals.拜登政府还在权衡一项行政命令,该命令将限制美国在中国和其他地缘政治竞争对手的投资。
 
Write to Asa Fitch at asa.fitch@wsj.com, Yuka Hayashi at Yuka.Hayashi@wsj.com and John D. McKinnon at John.McKinnon@wsj.com写信给 asa.fitch@wsj.com 的Asa Fitch,Yuka.Hayashi@wsj.com 的Yuka Hayashi和 John.McKinnon@wsj.com 的John D. McKinnon

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