By Karen Freifeld
March 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday withdrew a planned rule on AI chip exports, according to a government website.
A draft of the rule, expected to govern global access to AI chips, had been sent to other agencies for feedback in late February. The posting provided no reason for the withdrawal.
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The pullback marks the latest backpedaling by the Trump administration in its efforts to revoke and replace a framework the Biden administration released in January 2025 for exporting artificial intelligence chips.
Last spring, the Commerce Department said it was going to replace the rule with a much simpler one that ensured American AI dominance.
The rule, titled, “AI Action Plan Implementation,” was posted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website on Feb. 26 “pending review” before being pulled.
The plan considered requiring investments by foreign countries in U.S. data centers or security guarantees as a condition for granting exports of 200,000 chips or more, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The plan departed markedly from the Biden approach, which exempted close U.S. allies from most restrictions on exports of the coveted chips and divided the world into three tiers. The Biden rule capped a four-year effort by that administration to hobble China’s access to advanced chips while maintaining U.S. leadership in AI.
A former official said on Friday that the withdrawal of the latest planned rule likely reflects differing views within the administration on how to achieve global AI dominance and address national security concerns.
In a March 5 statement on social media service X, the U.S. Commerce Department said it was debating new rules, but that they would not be similar to what it described as a “burdensome, overreaching, and disastrous” framework proposed by Biden’s administration.
But, people familiar with the draft that circulated told Reuters it also seemed quite burdensome.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chris Reese and Alistair Bell)
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