The U.S. Department of Commerce is completing a regulation that would stop data centers in seven countries from renting Nvidia’s Blackwell AI processors and newer models to firms in China. The proposed rule would expand export licensing requirements to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa, and Norway, requiring buyers to identify end users to ensure that advanced hardware is not used to circumvent U.S. bans. This measure targets the “remote access” loophole, which some analysts estimate would cut off as much as 44% of China’s remote compute access, though the rule would only apply to future chip exports.
The crackdown follows intense scrutiny of the relationship between the Commerce Department and Nvidia amid a scandal involving CEO Jensen Huang. While the Biden administration has pushed for controls, the shift has gained new political momentum with OpenAI notifying congressional offices of its support for the Remote Access Security Act and other national security bills. The legislation, which received a 369-22 vote in the House in January, would grant the government explicit authority to ban Chinese companies from accessing export-controlled hardware in third countries.