On Jan 13, just a week before leaving office, the Biden administration issued new restrictions aimed at preventing adversaries such as China from accessing cutting-edge US-developed artificial intelligence chips. The rule, originally set to take effect on May 15, was rescinded by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on May 13. In its place, the BIS announced even stricter measures, targeting China’s rapid progress in AI chips and large-scale models.

This policy shift reflects growing US anxiety over China’s accelerating AI breakthroughs. Huawei’s Ascend 910 series has made notable strides, evolving from a basic alternative into a high-performance solution. While the gap with Nvidia remains, the progress is undeniable. Domestic chipmakers like Cambricon are also advancing quickly to strengthen China’s self-reliance, while Huawei has integrated DeepSeek’s open-source models with its Ascend chips — a direction the US fears most: a fully indigenous AI ecosystem with global influence that challenges its dominance in this sector.

The new BIS guidelines cautioned the technological industry that using China’s advanced computing ICs including specific Huawei Ascend chips risks violating US export controls and may expose companies to BIS enforcement action. It also warned the potential consequences of allowing US AI chips to be used for training and inference of Chinese AI models.

However, these efforts are unlikely to halt the growth of China’s AI industry. For one, Ascend chips are still catching up to Nvidia’s competing products. Constrained by yield and production capacity, they can barely meet domestic demand — rendering US restrictions on their international use largely symbolic at this stage.

More importantly, the continued US blockade on access to its advanced AI chips is instead prompting Chinese companies to double down on homegrown alternatives. This not only drives up demand for Huawei’s AI chips, but also helps accelerate their refinement.

Moreover, US attempts to prevent others from using Chinese chips represent a blatant “long-arm jurisdiction” and run counter to free-market principles. Such actions reflect the country’s growing unease with China’s rapid progress in the AI sector.

It’s clear that Chinese companies will be even more determined to support self-developed AI chips. As Huawei’s AI hardware combines with China’s open-source large models to outperform US counterparts in both performance and cost, the US will struggle to stop other countries and regions from adopting Chinese solutions. At that point, US firms like Nvidia and OpenAI could face serious competition beyond their home market.

The views are extracted from Mingshu Zatan (明叔杂谈) account and do not necessarily reflect those of facts.org.cn.