The U.S. has escalated its efforts to curb China’s rapid progress in artificial intelligence, issuing a stark warning that using Huawei’s AI chips anywhere in the world could breach American export control laws — a move likely to intensify the already fraught tech rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
According to the Financial Times, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) released new guidance this week stating that Huawei’s Ascend series of AI chips — specifically the 910B, 910C, and 910D models — are presumed to be subject to U.S. export controls because they are likely made with American technology or software. The guidance signals a more aggressive enforcement strategy without formally introducing new regulations.
“The guidance is not a new control,” said Kevin Wolf, a veteran export control lawyer at Akin Gump, “but rather a public confirmation of an interpretation that even the mere use anywhere by anyone of a Huawei-designed advanced computing integrated circuit would violate export control rules.”
This clarification reflects Washington’s growing unease over Huawei’s accelerating capabilities in AI hardware. The Shenzhen-based tech conglomerate has reportedly begun delivering AI chip “clusters” in China that it claims outperform comparable systems from U.S. leader Nvidia in key metrics such as compute power and memory. Though individual 910C chips may lag behind Nvidia’s most advanced units, Huawei’s system architecture — leveraging multiple chips in parallel — is said to deliver superior overall performance.
The BIS emphasized that the Ascend chips were likely developed with U.S.-origin semiconductor manufacturing equipment or software, which means any foreign use of them may necessitate hard-to-obtain U.S. export licenses.
Huawei did not respond to requests for comment. Nvidia, whose dominance in the global AI chip market is now being challenged by Huawei, also declined to comment.
The new U.S. guidance coincides with broader efforts to restrict China’s access to cutting-edge semiconductor technology. However, the Biden administration on Tuesday also rescinded a separate measure — the so-called AI Diffusion Rule — which had been set to take effect on May 15 and was intended to slow the spread of AI chips to countries of concern. The Commerce Department cited excessive bureaucratic complexity as the reason for scrapping the rule, though former Biden officials have reportedly disagreed with that rationale.
The announcement came on the same day former President Donald Trump visited Saudi Arabia, where he unveiled a suite of technology agreements, including a landmark AI infrastructure deal with the kingdom’s new state-owned company, Humain. The deal, which involves hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips, sparked concern among Trump administration officials about the large-scale offshoring of U.S. AI capacity — and the Gulf states’ growing ties with China.
Observers say the U.S. is scrambling to maintain its technological edge as Chinese firms like Huawei press ahead with alternatives to U.S. chips, spurred by Washington’s own export restrictions. Huawei is now rapidly expanding its domestic semiconductor production capabilities, reportedly to meet surging demand from Chinese clients shut out of Nvidia’s ecosystem.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged the competitive pressure last month, calling Huawei “one of the most formidable technology companies in the world” and urging U.S. policymakers to help American firms compete globally.
As the global race for AI dominance intensifies, the U.S. is warning that it will not only target direct exports of sensitive technology to China, but also extend its legal reach to foreign firms using chips designed or produced with American tools — putting the world on notice that Washington intends to enforce its tech controls without borders.
