Intel, a big American chip company, has told its Chinese customers that it will now need a special license to sell some of its advanced AI chips, according to the Financial Times.
This news came shortly after another chip company, Nvidia, said it might lose $5.5 billion because of new U.S. rules that limit the sale of AI chips to China. Another company, ASML from the Netherlands, also expressed concern about its business because of these changes.
Intel told its clients last week that it needs a license to export AI chips to China if the chip’s speed is very high — over 1,400 GB per second for memory, 1,100 GB per second for data input and output, or a combined total of 1,700 GB per second.
Chips like Intel’s Gaudi series and Nvidia’s H20 are faster than these limits, so they are affected.
Intel hasn’t commented yet on the report. Its stock dropped more than 3% on Wednesday, along with other chip stocks, as investors worry about the U.S. government’s changing trade rules and how they affect the tech industry.
The AI chip market, which has been growing fast for the last two years, is now slowing down due to trade restrictions and concerns about lower spending from big tech companies.
Source: reuters
